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

别洛夫斯基9707564食草动物种群的控制在生态学家中是一个激烈辩论的问题。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。这项提议是对一项自1992年以来一直没有中断的研究项目的更新。PI基于密度对种群繁殖、捕食概率和生存等种群过程的影响，建立了种群动力学的一般模型。该模型使用了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，以进一步测试PI的初步结果，即种群动态在空间和时间上的变化是可预测的。在一个强调农作物和木材生产的经济体中，控制昆虫食草动物是最重要的利益。这个项目采用了一种新的方法，将密度依赖和独立因素与历史因素结合起来，以加深我们对昆虫种群如何调节的理解。

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.