U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science: Spatio-Temporal Variation in Plant Demography: Development and Applications

该奖项支持马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的Hal Caswell博士和日本北海道东海大学的Takenori Takada教授进行的为期两年的合作研究项目。研究人员将对植物人口统计学的时空变化：发展与应用进行研究。环境随时间和空间的变化而变化，生态学的核心问题之一是记录、分析和理解这种变化的后果。人口模型提供了一种强有力的方式，将个人出生率、存活率、增长率和发展率的环境变化数据与由此产生的人口增长后果联系起来。该项目将把这些模型的最新发展与记录日本多年生森林林下草本植物赤藓（Erythronium japonicum）种群时空变化的独特长期数据集结合起来。他们将使用线性、非线性和随机矩阵种群模型来描述种群动态。生命表响应扩展实验（LTRE）分析将用于量化生命周期中每个阶段对(i)人口增长率、（ii）平衡人口密度和（iii）随机人口增长率的时空变化的贡献。该结果将是迄今为止对植物种群动态时空变化最完整的分析。该项目汇集了两个具有互补专业知识和研究能力的实验室的努力。通过思想和技术的交流，该项目将扩大我们的基础知识基础，促进国际了解与合作。研究人员计划在科学期刊上发表他们的研究结果，并在科学会议上报告他们的发现。

0003711CaswellThis award supports a two-year collaborative research project between Dr. Hal Caswell of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts and Professor Takenori Takada of Hokkaido Tokai University in Japan. The researchers will undertake research on the spatio-temporal variation in plant demography: development and applications. Environments vary in space and time, and among the central problems in ecology are the documentation, analysis, and understanding of the consequences of this variation. Demographic models provide a powerful way to link data on environmental variation in individual rates of birth, survival, growth, and development to the resulting consequences for population growth. This project will combine recent developments in such models with a unique long-term data set documenting both spatial and temporal variation in a population of Erythronium japonicum, a perennial forest understory herb in Japan. They will use linear, nonlinear, and stochastic matrix population models to describe the population dynamics. Extensions of life table response experiment (LTRE) analysis will be used to quantify the contribution of each stage in the life cycle to spatial and temporal variation in (i) population growth rate, (ii) equilibrium population density, and (iii) stochastic population growth rate. The results will be the most complete analysis ever attempted of spatio-temporal variation in plant population dynamics.The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. The researchers plan to publish results of their research in scientific journals and report on the findings at scientific meetings.