CRB: Biogeography and Biodiversity of Prairie Dog Towns

CRB：草原土拨鼠镇的生物地理学和生物多样性

• 批准号: 9622137
• 负责人: Mark Lomolino
• 金额: $ 22.26万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-04-15 至 2002-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9622137&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CRB; Biogeography; Biodiversity; Prairie; Dog

9622137 Lomolino Prairie dogs appear to be keystone species, strongly influencing community structure and creating a dynamic landscape across short grass and mixed grass prairies. Prairie dog colonies once covered some 100 million ha of North America. Now, their numbers and range may have been reduced to less than 5% of their historic levels. Continued decline of this keystone species threatens many native plants and animals that are dependent on prairie dog colonies. In Oklahoma, some 48 vertebrate species, many of which are threatened or endangered, appear to be associated with prairie dog colonies. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors influencing establishment, persistence, and diversity of prairie dog communities. The investigators will test the hypothesis that the structure of these communities results, in part, from deterministic and species selective immigrations, extinctions and interspecific interactions. This research will also test the utility of a species-based, hierarchical model of island biogeography to explain patterns in biodiversity of prairie dog colonies. This research represents an important, multi-species approach for conserving biodiversity of native prairie communities, and will provide general insights for conservation biology and biogeography of other terrestrial communities.

9622137洛莫利诺草原犬似乎是关键物种，强烈影响社区结构，并创造了一个动态的景观，在短草和混合草草原。草原犬鼠的栖息地曾经覆盖了北美大约1亿公顷的土地。现在，它们的数量和范围可能已经减少到不到历史水平的5%。这种关键物种的持续减少威胁到许多依赖草原土拨鼠殖民地的本土植物和动物。在俄克拉荷马州，大约48种脊椎动物，其中许多是受威胁或濒危，似乎与草原土拨鼠殖民地。本研究旨在探讨草原土拨鼠群落建立、持续性及多样性的影响因素。研究人员将检验这一假设，即这些群落的结构部分是由确定性和物种选择性的移民、迁移和种间相互作用造成的。这项研究还将测试一个以物种为基础的，层次模型的岛屿地理解释模式的草原土拨鼠殖民地的生物多样性的效用。 这项研究代表了一个重要的，多物种的方法来保护原生草原群落的生物多样性，并将提供一般的见解，保护生物学和其他陆地群落的植物地理学。