The Macroecology and Biodiversity of Geographic Ranges In Mammals

哺乳动物地理范围的宏观生态学和生物多样性

• 批准号: 0129009
• 负责人: John Gittleman
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-02-01 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0129009&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Macroecology; Biodiversity; Geographic; Ranges; Mammals

Non-Technical SummaryProposal Number: DEB-0129009Proposal Title: The Macroecology and Biodiversity of Geographic Ranges in MammalsPI Name: John L. GittlemanInstitution: University of VirginiaDifferent animals and plants are found in different places. Kangaroos and eucalyptus trees are characteristic of Australia, whereas giant pandas live only in China. One must travel far to see a close human relative, the lemurs, found only on the island of Madagascar. Surprisingly, no single source of information summarizes the geographic ranges of all mammal species. It is now all the more important to have such a database because species ranges are rapidly changing due to global climate change, habitat fragmentation, and human population growth. If there is a single prescription for species conservation, it is the preservation of natural geographic range distributions of a species.The primary sources for discovering where species live are maps showing point localities and range boundaries of a species. Our research will use GIS technology to digitize current range maps for all mammal species. We will use this database to examine three broad questions: (1) How do species differences in geographic range relate to their ecology or reproduction? (2) How are geographic ranges in mammals influenced by humans (i.e., dense human populations and land usage)? (3) How will geographic areas with high mammalian diversity (e.g., tropical forests) be effected by climate and other global changes? These questions are fundamental to understanding why almost a quarter of the 4,763 mammal species currently are threatened with extinction and using that information to establish conservation priorities. Both graduate and undergraduate studetns will be involved in all facets of this researh, and the entire database will be available freely on the worldwide web.

非技术摘要提案编号：DEB-0129009提案标题：哺乳动物地理范围的宏观生态学和生物多样性PI 名称：John L. Gittleman 机构：弗吉尼亚大学不同的地方发现不同的动物和植物。 袋鼠和桉树是澳大利亚的特色，而大熊猫只生活在中国。 人们必须长途跋涉才能看到人类的近亲——狐猴，这种动物只在马达加斯加岛上发现过。 令人惊讶的是，没有任何单一信息来源可以概括所有哺乳动物物种的地理范围。 现在拥有这样一个数据库变得更加重要，因为由于全球气候变化、栖息地破碎化和人口增长，物种范围正在迅速变化。 如果说物种保护有一个单一的规定，那就是保护物种的自然地理范围分布。发现物种生活地点的主要来源是显示物种的点位置和范围边界的地图。 我们的研究将使用 GIS 技术对所有哺乳动物物种的当前分布范围图进行数字化。 我们将使用该数据库来研究三个广泛的问题：（1）地理范围内的物种差异与其生态或繁殖有何关系？ (2) 哺乳动物的地理范围如何受到人类的影响（即人口密集和土地利用）？ (3) 哺乳动物多样性较高的地理区域（例如热带森林）将如何受到气候和其他全球变化的影响？ 这些问题对于理解为什么目前 4,763 种哺乳动物物种中近四分之一面临灭绝威胁以及利用这些信息确定保护优先事项至关重要。 研究生和本科生都将参与这项研究的各个方面，整个数据库将在万维网上免费提供。