Dissertation Research: Dispersal in Patch Mosaics

小行星9701591 溪流环境很难完全理解，因为食物和生活空间往往分布不均，动物在环境中广泛移动。 这些因素最近分别受到了很大的关注，但没有一起受到关注。 特别是，许多理论研究假设动物是随机移动的，或者它们对环境有完美的了解，因此可以确定移动的最佳位置。 然而，许多动物并不符合这些简化的想法-他们可以在一定程度上控制自己的运动，但没有广泛的信息，他们的环境。 研究人员将使用具有不同生物真实性水平的计算机模型，以确定动物如何在不均匀的河流环境中移动，以及它们的移动如何影响种群规模和稳定性。 他们还将在人工河流中进行实验，以确定小型河流无脊椎动物在面对水流时可以对它们的运动施加多大的控制。 小溪流无脊椎动物的运动模式和种群水平对溪流环境有重要影响，因为它们构成了溪流食物网的基础，也参与了微生物过程网。

9701591 Palmer Stream environments are difficult to fully understand because food and living space tend to be distributed in an uneven way, and animals move extensively within the environment. These are factors which have lately received much attention separately, but not together. In particular, many theoretical studies assume either that animals move at random, or that they have perfect knowledge of their environment, and thus can determine the best location to move to. However, many animals do not fit these simplified ideas-they can control their movements to some extent but do not have extensive information about their environment. The investigators will use computer models, with varying levels of biological realism, to determine how animals move within the uneven stream environment, and how their movement affects population sizes and stability. They will also perform experiments in an artificial stream to determine how much control small stream invertebrates can exert over their movement in the face of flow. The movement patterns and population levels of small stream invertebrates have important consequences for the stream environment, because they form the base of the stream food web and are involved in the microbial processes web as well.