SGER: The Regulation of Herbivores by the Third Trophic Level: An El Nino Experiment

SGER：第三营养级对食草动物的调节：厄尔尼诺实验

• 批准号: 9806674
• 负责人: Phyllis Coley
• 金额: $ 4.46万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-04-01 至 2000-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9806674&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Regulation; Herbivores; Third; Trophic

Coley 98 06674 Factors controlling the magnitude of herbivory in tropical forests have been of interest to ecologists for a long time. It has generally been thought that the magnitude of herbivory is controlled by limits on overall herbivore biomass by the quality and quantity of suitable leaf materials for food. The author of this proposal has suggested, however, that the standing biomass of herbivores is influenced by control by higher trophic levels. This project is taking advantage of an unusual climatic event to test this hypothesis of top-down control. This years upcoming ENSO event is anticipated to be the strongest one in some time. It is likely to cause conditions that generate a differential stress on the consumers of herbivores relative to that on the herbivores themselves. This project would test for such an effect and for the increase in herbivores that would be predicted in response to a decline in its consumers. It would allow a direct test of the top-down control hypothesis in tropical forests.

Coley 98 06674 生态学家长期以来一直对控制热带森林食草动物规模的因素感兴趣。 人们普遍认为，食草动物的规模是由对食草动物总生物量的限制来控制的，而食草动物生物量的限制是由适合食物的叶子材料的质量和数量决定的。 然而，该提案的作者提出，食草动物的常备生物量受到较高营养水平控制的影响。 该项目正在利用一次不寻常的气候事件来检验这种自上而下控制的假设。 今年即将到来的 ENSO 事件预计将是一段时间内最强烈的事件。 它可能会导致食草动物的消费者与食草动物本身产生不同的压力。 该项目将测试这种效应以及食草动物的增加，而食草动物的增加是由于消费者数量的减少而预测的。 它将允许直接检验热带森林中自上而下的控制假设。