Theory for Community Dynamics in Spatially and Temporally Variable Environments

Peter Chesson DEB-9981926将结合分析、模拟和数值方法研究物种在空间和时间上竞争的数学模型。三种特定类型的自然群落将形成这项工作的焦点：一年生植物与持久性种子库（特别是那些发现在干旱环境），多年生草本植物，空间蔓延的营养手段，和长寿多年生生物，没有evegetative传播，但有多个生殖事件在生活中的个人（iteroparity）。 该研究将研究生活史特征，如那些定义这些不同的社区，如何在空间和时间上与环境变化相互作用，影响物种的共存，从而影响物种多样性的维持。除了区分上述系统的特征外，重要的因素预计是后代的扩散方式，扩散距离以及个体生物之间竞争的空间和时间尺度。 这项工作将扩展到空间域先前的研究结果的作用时间环境变化及其相互作用与生活史性状的物种多样性的维护.

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.