Consequences of Community Structure and Nutrient Supply Rate for Dynamic Response to Perturbation: Theory and Experiments

群落结构和养分供给率对扰动动态响应的影响：理论与实验准确预测生态系统对扰动的反应是生态学的一个主要目标。尽管生态学家已经发展了丰富的理论体系，关于生态系统的哪些特性可能是扰动后动态的可靠预测因素，但这一理论存在两个主要空白。首先，理论期望的实验测试相对较少，尽管这些测试具有应用重要性。其次，大多数研究都集中在涉及累积生物量损失的“移除”扰动上，例如飓风吹倒树木和溪流冲刷事件，这些事件会移除生物群。然而，许多生态系统也受到“附加”扰动，如营养脉冲。因此，一个重要的问题是，为去除微扰发展的理论是否也适用于添加微扰。本研究项目通过现场实验和仿真建模来满足这两个需求。这些实验将测试淡水浮游生物群落的理论预测，而建模研究将确定当前的理论是否适用于营养脉冲。总之，这些研究将产生一个更广泛的关于生态系统如何对扰动作出反应的理论，增加对藻类对营养脉冲的短期反应的理解，并评估普通湖泊管理措施对藻类动态可能产生的间接影响。

CONSEQUENCES OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND NUTRIENT SUPPLY RATE FOR DYNAMIC RESPONSES TO PERTURBATION: THEORY AND EXPERIMENTSThe ability to accurately predict how ecological systems respond to perturbation is a major goal of ecology. Although ecologists have developed a rich body of theory regarding which properties of ecological systems might be reliable predictors of dynamics following perturbation, there are two major gaps in this theory. First, there have been relatively few experimental tests of theoretical expectations, despite the applied importance of such tests. Second, most studies have focused on "removal" perturbations that involve loss of accumulated biomass, such as hurricanes that knock down trees and stream scouring events that remove biota. However, many ecosystems are also subjected to "addition" perturbations such as nutrient pulses. An important question, therefore, is whether theory developed for removal perturbations is also applicable to addition perturbations. This research project addresses both needs through field experiments and simulation modeling. The experiments will test theoretical predictions in freshwater plankton communities, whereas modeling studies will determine if current theory applies to nutrient pulses. Together, these studies will result in a more broadly based theory for how ecosystems respond to perturbations, increased understanding of the short-term responses of algae to nutrient pulses, and an evaluation of the possible indirect effects of common lake management practices on algal dynamics.