Collaborative Research: Patches, Corridors, and Dispersal of Insects and Plants: Scaling up from Local Experiments to Large Complex Landscapes

9907365Haddad克服栖息地破碎化负面影响的最流行策略之一是将孤立的斑块与走廊联系起来。然而，走廊促进植物和动物运动并增加其种群规模的假设，保护生物学的核心原则，几乎没有经过检验。这些研究人员将进行大规模的走廊对植物和动物的影响实验，并确定走廊作为人类主导景观保护工具的功效。这项研究将与美国林务局在南卡罗来纳州的萨凡纳河流生态实验室合作进行。该研究有三个主要目标：1）测试的假设，走廊增加连接的补丁之间的运动，2）测试的假设，走廊增加植物和动物的丰度连接补丁，和3）测试的假设，走廊增加物种丰度在该地区的森林管理活动的规模较小的孤立补丁。利用实地实验的数据，PI将参数化基于GIS的模拟模型，以确定走廊在人类主导景观中的价值。这些研究在实验和管理景观的综合结果将产生最深远的，明确的测试走廊对植物和动物种群的影响，其相关性的保护在破碎的景观。

9907365HaddadOne of the most popular strategies to overcome the negative effects of habitat fragmentation is to link otherwise isolated patches with corridors. However, the assumption that corridors facilitate plant and animal movement and increase their population sizes, a central tenet of conservation biology, has been virtually untested. These investigators will conduct large scale experiments of corridor effects on plants and animals, and determine the efficacy of corridors as conservation tools in human dominated landscapes. The study will occur in cooperation with the US Forest Service at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in South Carolina. The study has three primary objectives: 1) to test the hypothesis that corridors increase movement between connected patches, 2) to test the hypothesis that corridors increase plant and animal abundances in connected patches, and 3) to test the hypothesis that corridors increase species abundances in less isolated patches on the scale of forest management activities in this region. Using data from the field experiments, the PIs will parameterize GIS-based simulation models to determine the value of corridors in human dominated landscapes. The combined results of these studies in experimental and managed landscapes will generate the most far-reaching, definitive test of corridor effects on plant and animal populations, and their relevance to conservation in fragmented landscapes.