CRB: The Role of Apparent Competition and Patch Geometry in Mediating the Invasion and Restoration of Grassland Communities

提案题目：“表观竞争和斑块几何在调节草地群落入侵和恢复中的作用”。当非本地物种在其原始活动范围以外的地区定居时，就会发生生物入侵。生物入侵具有深远的生态影响和经济成本，仅在美国，造成本土物种灭绝和生态系统功能改变的成本估计每年超过1380亿美元。该提案将在加利福尼亚的草原上进行，那里有920万公顷（几乎占整个州的25%）的非本地植物占主导地位。该提案将研究1)非本地植物是否会增加本地消费者的消耗，从而导致本地植物的灭绝；2)景观介导的消费者行为变化是否会导致消费者对原生植物的影响更强。该建议将入侵生物学、植物和消费者之间的间接相互作用以及空间动力学联系起来，为构建生态群落的力量提供了新的见解。此外，本提案中概述的工作具有广泛的应用价值，因为它可以提供简单的“经验法则”，以帮助保护生物学家确定保护区域的优先次序，并指导修复工作的设计。更一般地说，这项工作将为改变斑块几何形状的过程如何影响入侵的整体过程提供见解，这可能对当代景观至关重要，因为碎片化正在以前所未有的速度改变斑块几何形状。

NSF Proposal AbstractPIs: Reichman and OrrockProposal Title: "The Role of Apparent Competition and Patch Geometry in Mediating the Invasion and Restoration of Grassland Communities".Biological invasions occur when non-native species become established in areas outside of their original range. Biological invasions have profound ecological impacts and economical costs, causing extinction of native species and shifts in ecosystem function that are estimated to cost over 138 billion dollars per year in the United States alone. This proposal will take place in the grasslands of California, where 9.2 million hectares (almost 25% of the entire state) are dominated by non-native plants. This proposal will examine whether 1) non-native plants fuel increases in native consumers that contribute to the elimination of native plants; and 2) whether landscape-mediated changes in consumer behavior lead to stronger impacts of consumers on native plants. This proposal links the biology of invasions, indirect interactions among plants and consumers, and spatial dynamics to provide novel insight into the forces structuring ecological communities. Moreover, the work outlined in this proposal has broad applied value because it may provide simple "rules of thumb" to aid conservation biologists in prioritizing areas for protection and to guide the design of restoration efforts. More generally, this work will provide insight into how processes that change patch geometry affect the overall course of invasions, which may be critical in contemporary landscapes where fragmentation is changing patch geometry at unprecedented rates.