Dissertation Research: Spatial Subsidies and the Stability of Planktonic Food Webs in Ponds

提案# 0206015 Leibold和Geddes。摘要。确定能够稳定或破坏特定系统的因素反映了了解生态过程的必要性，因为人们关注不稳定性的增加如何导致物种和/或生态系统功能的丧失。有证据表明，空间补贴可能比以前认为的更为普遍，这促使先前的研究评估了这种投入的普遍性。尽管理论模型表明补贴可以稳定食物网，但没有实验证据支持这种说法。拟议的研究超越了承认补贴无处不在的认识，解决了它们在浮游池塘食物网的动态行为和功能中的作用。具体而言，它探讨了具有不同物种丰富度和特征的食物网如何响应补贴，以及多种补贴如何与捕食相互作用以调节稳定性和生态系统功能。理想情况下，这项研究的结果将通过弥合目前理论、实证和相关研究之间的差距，确定补贴对食物网和生态系统的影响。

Proposal # 0206015 Leibold and Geddes. Abstract.Identifying factors that could stabilize or destabilize particular systems reflects the need to understand ecological processes because of concerns regarding how increased instability could yield loss of species and/or ecosystem functioning. Evidence that spatial subsidies might be more common than previously thought led prior research to assess the generality of such inputs. Although theoretical models suggest that subsidies could stabilize food webs, no experimental evidence supports such claim. The proposed research goes beyond recognizing that subsidies are ubiquitous by addressing their role on the dynamic behavior and functioning of planktonic pond food webs. Specifically, it addresses how food webs with configurations that differ in species richness and identity respond to subsidies, and how multiple subsidies interact with predation to mediate stability and ecosystem functioning. Ideally, results from this research will determine the effects of subsidies on food webs and ecosystems by bridging current gaps among theoretical, empirical, and correlational studies.