Collaborative Research: Responses of Mammalian Herbivores to Spatial Heterogenetiry Expressed at Multiple Scales

合作研究：食草脊椎动物（如鹿、牛和草原犬鼠）是地球自然系统的重要组成部分。 这些动物影响着生长在景观上的植物类型，它们影响着土壤和植物之间物质循环的方式，它们控制着野火等重要的大规模过程的行为。 食草动物对生态系统的许多影响取决于它们觅食时的移动方式。 食草动物的运动，反过来，似乎对植被的空间格局。 然而，尽管草食动物对植物空间异质性的反应是理解草食动物在自然界中的作用的基础，但这些反应仍然知之甚少。 我们提出的实验，以了解如何草食动物的各种大小（从小鼠到麋鹿）的复杂模式的食物的空间布局。 这些实验将回答3个基本问题：是否存在对食草动物运动模式产生主要影响的异质性的特定来源？食物的异质性是否允许食草动物更有效地觅食，也就是说，每单位觅食努力获得更多的能量和营养？有没有简单的数学模型可以忠实地反映食草动物对植物空间格局的反应？这项工作有望揭示生态系统中的重要相互作用。 描述这种相互作用将促进对自然的理解，并将提高我们管理对人类经济至关重要的过程的能力。

Collaborative Research: Responses of Mammalian Herbivores to Spatial Heterogeneity Expressed at Multiple ScalesProject SummaryVertebrate herbivores (animals like deer and cattle and prairie dogs) are important parts of the earth's natural systems. These animals affect the types of plants that grow on landscapes, they influence the way that materials are cycled between soil and plants, and they control the behavior of important, large-scale processes like wildfire. Many of these effects of herbivores on ecosystems depend on the way they move while they are foraging. Herbivore movement, in turn, seems to respond to spatial patterns in vegetation. However, although responses of herbivores to spatial heterogeneity in plants is fundamental to understanding the role of herbivores in nature, these responses remain poorly understood. We propose experiments to understand how herbivores of various sizes (ranging from mice to elk) respond to complex patterns in the spatial arrangement of foods. These experiments will answer 3 basic questions:Are there particular sources of heterogeneity that exert a predominant influence on herbivore movement patterns?Does heterogeneity in foods allow herbivores to forage more efficiently, that is, to obtain more energy and nutrients per unit of foraging effort?Are there simple mathematical models that can faithfully represent the responses of herbivores to spatial patterns in plants?This work promises to reveal an important interaction in ecological systems. Describing this interaction will advance understanding of nature and will enhance our ability to manage processes that are vital to human economies.