U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research: Regional and Local Influences on Species Richness in Coral Communities Across a Pacific Diversity Gradient

9724759特拉华大学生物系的康奈尔大学教授霍华德·康奈尔和罗纳德·卡尔森，以及澳大利亚詹姆斯·库克大学海洋生物系的特伦斯·P·休斯博士将在印度-西太平洋和中太平洋六个物种丰富的区域对珊瑚进行采样，以定量评估区域和当地过程对当地物种丰富的相对影响。将收集选定物种的物种存在、相对丰度、栖息地宽度和深度范围的数据，以测试不断增加的区域池对当地丰富度、均衡度、栖息地压缩和栖息地重叠的影响。这种区域和地方观点的综合应不仅为社区生态学的基础研究，而且也为与物种灭绝、栖息地丧失和碎片化以及生态恢复有关的应用问题提供一个综合的概念框架。

9724759 CORNELL Professors Howard Cornell and Ronald Karlson of the Department of Biology at the University of Delaware, and Dr. Terence P. Hughes of the Department of Marine Biology of James Cook University, Australia, will sample corals in six sectors of increasing regional species richness across the Indo-West and Central Pacific Ocean to quantitatively evaluate the relative influence of regional and local processes on local richness. Data will be collected on species presence, relative abundance, habitat breadth, and depth range of selected species to test the effects of the increasing regional pool on local richness, evenness, habitat compression, and habitat overlap. This synthesis of regional and local perspectives should provide an integrated conceptual framework not only for basic studies of community ecology but also for applied problems associated with species extinctions, habitat loss and fragmentation, and ecological restoration.