Dissertation Research: The Potential Tradeoff Between Competitive Ability and Predator Resistance in Larval Anurans

[701111]捕食和竞争被认为是决定生态群落结构和组成的重要因素。过去对这两个因素相互作用的研究发现，分类群要么竞争得好，要么抵抗得好，但不是两者都有。这些观察结果表明，在竞争能力和抵抗捕食能力之间存在着一种权衡。捕食风险和竞争能力的差异与捕食者诱导和竞争者诱导的幼虫形态的差异有关，包括尾鳍深度和嘴的大小的差异。一种无尾蝇幼虫的种群形态不同，人们可以利用这些种群形态上的差异来确定种群是否在竞争能力和捕食者抵抗力之间进行权衡。通过利用种群间形态可塑性的不同程度，在形态性状上产生更夸张的差异，可以进一步检验这种权衡。基于对同一物种内种群间竞争能力和捕食者抗性的了解，可以预测和测试同一属内无尾猿物种间的关系。本研究对种群的进化、群落内物种的相互作用以及群落间的生产力-多样性关系具有重要意义。

9701111 Werner Predation and competition are thought to be important factors that help determine the structure and composition of ecological communities. Past studies of the interaction of these two factors have found that taxa either compete well or resist predation well, but not both. These observations suggest that there is a tradeoff between the ability to compete and the ability to resist predation. Differences in predation risk and competitive ability are associated with differences in predator-induced and competitor-induced morphology of larval anurans including differences in tail fin depth and mouth size. Populations within one species of larval anuran differ in morphology and one can take advantage of these population differences in morphology to determine if populations are trading off competitive ability and predator resistance. This tradeoff can be further tested by generating more exaggerated differences in the morphological traits by making use of different magnitudes of morphological plasticity among the populations. Based on an understanding of competitive abilities and predator resistance among populations within a species, the relationship among anuran species within the same genus can be predicted and tested. The proposed work has important implications to evolution of local populations, species interactions within a community, and productivity-diversity relationships across communities.