Dissertation Research: The Influence of Immigration on Local Community Structure: Experimental Tests of Theory in Two Beetle Communities

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Identifying the mechanisms that structure local communities is a fundamental goal of communityecology. Historically, ecologists invoked local processes to explain community structure, butequivocal evidence has broadened debate to include the potential importance of regionalprocesses in structuring communities. Though experimentation has proven critical in resolvingissues in ecology, theoretical and observational studies have, thus far, been the primary tools usedto examine the effects of regional processes. I propose a series of novel experiments to testtheories that span the range between local and regional control of diversity. Local process,metapopulation competition, and neutral community theories make predictions about the effectsof immigration that are qualitatively different, mutually exclusive, and testable in the sameimmigration experiments. Using a laboratory system of Tribolium flour beetles and a field systemof Cecropia petiole beetles, I will experimentally test these theories by simultaneouslymanipulating immigration regime and interaction strength (lab), and exposure to immigration anddistance from colonization source (field). Though recently developed theory suggests regionalprocesses can have a dominant effect on community structure, the theory must first be confirmedempirically if community ecology is to gain insight from the regional process perspective.