CRB: Collaborative Research: Stimulating Woodland Restoration: Long Term Effects of Spatial and Biotic Pattern

9726445汉德尔空间关系对生态群落的结构和功能有很强的影响，恢复实验可以用来探索在群落发展的形成阶段这些影响。本研究的背景是城市林地自然演替的失败。实验方法是测试刺激林地发展的方法，研究促进或抑制演替的地上和地下过程。 在纽约市的Fresh Kills垃圾填埋场，在一大片高度扰动的土地上进行的实验中，已经建立了木本植物集群作为演替接种体。集群排列在不同的补丁大小，以评估互惠的发展，草食动物的作用，建立和恢复率的土壤过程的限制。目前提案的资金将使这些研究人员能够继续进行这项宝贵的长期恢复实验。研究结果将为退化土地的恢复提供明确的实用信息。此外，该项目将提供实验测试的问题，从大量的理论生态演替。

9726445 Handel Spatial relationships can have strong influences on the structure and function of ecological communities, and restoration experiments can be used to explore those influences during formative phases of community development. The context of this research is the failure of natural succession to woodland on urban, derelict lands. The experimental approach is to test methods for stimulating woodland development, studying above- and belowground processes that promote or inhibit succession. In an on-going experiment on a large tract of highly disturbed land, the Fresh Kills Landfill in New York City, clusters of woody plants have been established as successional inocula. The clusters are arrayed in different patch sizes to assess the development of mutualisms, the role of herbivory, and the limitations of soil processes on establishment and rates of restoration. Funding for the current proposal will allow these investigators to continue this valuable long-term restoration experiment. Results from this research will provide explicit practical information for the restoration of degraded lands. In addition, this project will provide experimental tests of questions derived from the large body of theory on ecological succession.