Starter Grant: Linking Life History, Behavior, and Plant Population Dynamics

目前，种群生物学以两种基本独立的调查方式存在：在当前条件下，理解为什么物种具有特定的特征（生活史和行为）；预测种群规模随时间的变化（种群动态），是基于许多种群共有的一些简单特征，而不是基于已知行为和生活史的多样性。本研究测试了生命史和行为的不同方面对植物种群动态模式的作用，特别强调了与保护生物学和生态恢复中的应用问题有关的问题。这笔赠款将为正在进行的项目提供支持，以测试多年生草本植物（黄芪）同步繁殖的生态机制，以及半寄生一年生植物（小犀草）主动觅食的重要性。此外，资金将用于收集初步数据，调查哪些特征最能预测不同植物种群和物种对环境污染的反应能力。越来越多的生态学家被要求预测在大空间和时间尺度上对扰动的反应，这是不适合直接实验的。生活史和种群动态研究的分离意味着，例如，当预测模型被用来决定管理方案的后果时，它们通常不会考虑到对特定物种的大部分已知情况。在许多情况下，这种简化可能是适当的；模型的目标是捕捉种群的关键特征，这些特征是预测空间和时间动态所必需的，而不是精确地再现行为和生活史的每一个细节，即使这是可以做到的。问题是必须考虑哪些“细节”，因为它们会导致人口反应系统性地偏离简单模型所预测的结果。因此，我的研究的主要应用是开发方法来选择适当的细节水平。此外，我正在研究一种地方性植物的种群生物学，它在蒙大拿州和爱达荷州被列为受关注的物种。最后，我的研究将有助于了解植物对锌污染的反应，特别是植物对环境污染的反应机制。

At the present time, population biology exists as two, largely independent, lines of investigation: understanding why species have particular traits (life histories and behaviors), given current conditions; and predicting changes in population size over time (population dynamics), based on a few simple features shared by many populations, rather than the diversity of known behaviors and life histories. This research tests the role of different aspects of life history and behavior for patterns of plant population dynamics, with particular emphasis on problems relating to applied questions in conservation biology and ecological restoration. This grant will provide support for ongoing projects testing ecological mechanisms of synchronous reproduction in an herbaceous perennial plant (Astragalus scaphoides), and the importance of active foraging for a hemiparasitic annual plant (Rhinanthus minor). In addition, funds will be used to collect preliminary data investigating which traits best predict the ability of different plant populations and species to respond to environmental contamination. Ecologists are increasingly called upon to predict responses to perturbations at large spatial and temporal scales, that are not amenable to direct experimentation. Separation of life history and population dynamic research means, for example, that when predictive models are used to make decisions about the consequences of management options, they do not typically take into account most of what is known about a particular species. In many cases, this simplification may be appropriate; the goal of a model is to capture key features of populations that are needed to predict dynamics in space and time, not to accurately reproduce every detail about behavior and life history, even it could be done. The question is which "details" must be considered, because they lead to population responses that systematically deviate from those predicted by simpler models. Thus, the primary application of my research is in developing methods to choose appropriate levels of detail. In addition, I am studying population biology of an endemic plant, listed as a species of concern in Montana and Idaho. Finally, my research will contribute to knowledge of responses of plants to zinc pollution in particular, and mechanisms by which plants respond to environmental contamination in general.