Regulation of Grasshopper Populations and Communities; Differing Dominant Mechanisms Over Space and Time

控制食草动物的数量是生态学家们激烈争论的问题。PI一直在研究天气、食物、捕食者和历史对草原生态系统中蝗虫复制种群调节的相对重要性。该提案是对自1992年以来一直不间断进行的研究项目的更新。PI根据密度对种群过程（如繁殖、捕食概率和生存）的影响方式，构建了种群动态的一般模型。该模型采用将当前人口水平与上一代人口水平联系起来的招聘曲线。这次更新将继续四年前开始的实验，进一步测试PI的初步结果，即人口动态随空间和时间的变化是可预测的。在以作物和木材生产为主的经济中，控制食草昆虫是最重要的。该项目采用了一种新颖的方法，将密度依赖和独立因素与历史因素相结合，以进一步了解昆虫种群是如何调节的。

BELOVSKY 9707564 The control of herbivore populations is a hotly debated issue among ecologists. The PI has been studying the relative importance of weather, food, predators, and history on the regulation of replicated populations of grasshoppers in a grassland ecosystem. This proposal is a renewal of a research project that has continued uninterrupted since 1992. The PI has constructed a general model of population dynamics based on the manner that density affects population processes such as reproduction, probability of predation, and survival. The model employs recruitment curves which relate current population levels to the previous generation. This renewal will continue the experiments began four years ago to further test the PI's initial results that shifts in population dynamics over space and time are predictable. The control of insect herbivores is of paramount interest in an economy emphasizing crop and timber production. This project takes a novel approach in combining density-dependent and independent factors with historical factors to further our understanding of how insect populations are regulated.