RUI Collaborative Research: Inquiline Communities in Changeable Pitchers: Do Nutrients Link Community Assembly to Dynamic Habitats

PI： 新泽西州戈泰利，和A.M.埃里森机构：佛蒙特大学和山。霍利奥克学院提案编号：DEB - 9808504 9805722 通过研究北方的猪笼草和生活在其中的有机体，将扩展群落组装的理论。 这项工作将开发模型的inquiline生物栖息投手，同时进行现场和实验室实验，以阐明社区殖民化，持久性，增长和动态的驱动因素，特别是与植物营养动态。 这项工作将提供一个概述inquiline社区和他们的主机猪笼草之间的联系。 考虑植物性能与不同的inquiline社区将扩大以前的努力，强调这些协会的动物成分。个别叶片的马尔可夫模型将与猪笼草生长的矩阵模型相结合，以评估整体植物生长和N和P限制在这些沼泽栖息地的作用。 更一般地说，收集的数据将使发展，完善和测试的数学模型，在动态栖息地的社区大会。 这一模式将整合广泛的生态特征，最终将适用于多种多样的群落组合。

PIs: Gotelli, N.J., and A.M. Ellison Institutions: University of Vermont and Mt. Holyoke College Proposal Numbers: DEB - 9808504 & 9805722 Theories of community assembly will be expanded by examining northern pitcher plants and the organisms that live within them. This work will develop models of the inquiline organisms that inhabit pitchers while conducting field and laboratory experiments to elucidate the factors driving community colonization, persistence, growth, and dynamics particularly as related to in-plant nutrient dynamics. This work will provide an overview of the linkages between inquiline communities and their host pitcher plants. Considerations of plant performance with different inquiline communities will expand upon previous efforts that have emphasized the animal component of these associations. Markovian models on individual leaves will be combined with matrix models of pitcher-plant growth to assess overall plant growth and the roles of N and P limitation in these bog habitats. More generally, the data gathered will enable the development, refinement, and testing of a mathematical model of community assembly in dynamic habitats. This model will integrate a broad range of ecological features and will eventually be applicable to a diversity of community assemblages.