Operation of a Trophic Cascade in Predator-free Forest Fragments

在无捕食者的森林碎片中运行营养级联

• 批准号: 0108107
• 负责人: John Terborgh
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-08-15 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0108107&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Operation; Trophic; Cascade; Predator; free

The role of predation in regulating terrestrial ecosystems, and the related question of whether terrestrial ecosystems are subject to strong trophic cascades (effects which flow from predators through herbivores to plants) are topics of current debate in ecology. The proposed research takes advantage of a multi-billion dollar "experiment" that has created a large number of predator-free islands in a 4,300 square-kilometer impoundment associated with a hydroelectric installation in Venezuela. The proposed research generally tests the hypothesis that the predator-free status of islands should lead initially to a hyper-abundance of herbivores (seed and leaf eating species), and then to massive impacts on the vegetation as a consequence of trophic cascades. Primary activities include continuing rodent and ant removal programs on experimental islands and re-censusing plant plots to record the dynamics of vegetation change on both untreated and treated islands. This research may provide the most direct link yet to the important functional role played by large predators in tropical forests. This has enormous implications for conservation because human-induced loss of predators from tropical forests may drastically alter plant species composition of tropical forests resulting in significant declines in diversity.

捕食在调节陆地生态系统中的作用，以及陆地生态系统是否受到强烈的营养级联（从捕食者通过食草动物到植物的影响）的相关问题是当前生态学辩论的主题。 这项拟议中的研究利用了一项耗资数十亿美元的“实验”，该实验在委内瑞拉一座水电站的4,300平方公里蓄水池中创造了大量无捕食者的岛屿。 拟议的研究一般测试的假设，即岛屿的无捕食者的状态应导致最初的食草动物（种子和树叶吃物种）的过度丰富，然后对植被的营养级联的结果大规模的影响。 主要活动包括在实验岛屿上继续开展啮齿动物和蚂蚁清除方案，并重新普查植物地块，以记录未经处理和经过处理的岛屿上植被变化的动态。 这项研究可能提供了最直接的联系，但在热带森林中的大型食肉动物所发挥的重要功能作用。 这对保护有着巨大的影响，因为人类引起的热带森林捕食者的丧失可能会大大改变热带森林的植物物种组成，导致多样性的显著下降。