Theory for Community Dynamics in Spatially and Temporally Variable Environments

Peter Chesson DEB-9981926物种在空间和时间上竞争的数学模型将使用分析、模拟和数值方法相结合的方法进行研究。三种特定类型的自然群落将形成这项工作的焦点：具有持久种子库的一年生植物(特别是在干旱环境中发现的植物)，通过营养方式在空间上传播的多年生草本植物，以及长寿的多年生生物，这些生物没有绝对的传播，但在个体的生活中有多次繁殖事件(迭代性)。这项研究将研究生活史特征，如那些定义这些不同群落的特征，如何与空间和时间上的环境变化相互作用，并影响物种共存，从而影响物种多样性的维持。除了上述系统的特征外，重要的因素还包括后代的扩散方式、扩散距离以及个体间竞争的时空尺度。这项工作将延伸到空间域，这是先前关于时间环境变化及其与生活史特征在维持物种多样性方面的相互作用的发现。

Peter Chesson DEB-9981926Mathematical models of species competing in space and time will bestudied using a combination of analytical, simulation, and numericalmethods. Three specific sorts of natural community will form foci ofthis work: annual plants with persistence seed banks (especially thosefound in arid environments), perennial herbs that spread spatially byvegetative means, and long-lived perennial organisms that do not havevegetative spread but have multiple reproductive events in the life ofan individual (iteroparity). The research will examine how life-historytraits, such as those defining these different communities, interactwith environmental variation in space and time and affect coexistence ofspecies and therefore affect maintenance of species diversity. Inaddition to the features distinguishing the above systems, importantfactors are expected to be mode of dispersal of offspring, distance ofdispersal, and spatial and temporal scales of competition betweenindividual organisms. This work will extend to the spatial domainprevious findings on the role of temporal environmental variation andits interactions with life-history traits on the maintenance of speciesdiversity.