Collaborative Research: Interacting Effects of Insect Herbivory and Rodent Granivory on Plant Population Dynamics

9727548 SIMM在这个合作研究项目中，研究人员解决了生态学中的一个中心问题，即消费者在多大程度上控制植物种群动态？他们的实地研究旨在确定昆虫和老鼠消费者在什么条件下改变灌木的种群动态。该项目将包括在草原和沙丘上进行的三个不同的操控现场实验。首先，昆虫食草动物和啮齿动物食草动物的密度将在不同的地块中进行操纵，种植目标植物。第二个实验将包括种植不同数量羽扇豆籽的地块，以确定种子库大小如何影响目标植物的招募。第三个实验将控制植物密度和地下昆虫食草性，以确定竞争是否会影响植物对草食性的耐受性或抵抗力。

9727548 Simms In this collaborative research project the investigators address a central question in ecology, to what extent do consumers control plant population dynamics? Their field study is directed at determining the conditions under which insect and mice consumers alter population dynamics of a shrub. The project will include three separate manipulative field experiments in grasslands and sand dunes. First, the density of insect herbivores and rodent granivores will be manipulated in separate plots planted with the target plant. The second experiment will include plots with different numbers of lupine seeds to determine how seed bank size affects recruitment of the target plant. The third experiment will manipulate plant density and below ground insect herbivory to determine whether competition affects plant tolerance or resistance to herbivory.