DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Pinus albicaulis Regeneration Within a Community Context: Restoring a Keystone Species

长期以来，生态学家一直在争论植物群落是由相互依赖和相互作用的物种组成，还是由适应类似非生物条件的单个共生物种组成。这项拟议的研究针对的是白皮松，这是落基山脉北部和北喀斯特山脉的一种迅速衰落的关键森林树种。初步结果表明，林下植物与白念珠菌有正向或负向的相互作用，这些相互作用可能受土壤条件的影响，而土壤条件既受火的影响，又受植物种类的影响。这些实验提出的重点是确定在严酷的亚高山条件下促进白念珠菌的机制。这些结果将进一步科学地理解影响植物群落结构的机制，并将有助于恢复这一关键物种的努力。

Ecologists have long debated whether plant communities consist of interdependent and interacting species, or of individual, co-occurring species that are adapted to similar abiotic conditions. The proposed research addresses this question with respect to Pinus albicaulis, a rapidly declining keystone species of forests in the northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascade Ranges. Preliminary results show that understory plant species interact positively or negatively with P. albicaulis, and that these interactions may be mediated by soil conditions which are influenced both by fire and by plant species. The experiments proposed focus on determining the mechanisms responsible for facilitation of P. albicaulis in harsh subalpine conditions. Results will further scientific understanding of the mechanisms affecting plant community structure and will assist efforts to restore this keystone species.