Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Consumer-Resource Dynamics in Environments Varying in Space and Time

时空变化环境中栖息地破碎化对消费者资源动态的影响

• 批准号: 0444711
• 负责人: N. Thompson Hobbs
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-02-01 至 2010-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0444711&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Effects; Habitat; Fragmentation; Consumer; Resource

In all regions of the world, human activities fragment habitats into spatially isolated parts. It is clear this isolation can harm populations of animals. In particular, there is evidence that the number of animals per unit area of habitat declines as the area of habitat decreases. The reasons why this occurs are poorly understood. A possible explanation for the effect of habitat area on population density is that animals in fragmented habitats have restricted access to variety in the foods they need to survive and reproduce. The proposed work will test the hypotheses that habitat fragmentation causes reduced population density by restricting access of animals to diversity in the foods. Researchers will conduct an experiment where one population of grasshoppers has access to a wide range of foods that vary in quality over space and time. Another population of the same size will be divided into subpopulations, each of which will have limited access to the total range of resources. Researchers will also construct mathematical models of fragmentation effects on interactions between consumers and resources. This work will improve the scientific foundation for decisions on human land-use world wide. In addition, we will use the project to provide research problems for interdisciplinary training to graduate students in mathematics, ecology, and statistics.

在世界所有区域，人类活动将生境分割成空间上孤立的部分。很明显，这种隔离会损害动物种群。特别是，有证据表明，随着栖息地面积的减少，单位栖息地面积的动物数量也在减少。人们对这种情况发生的原因知之甚少。对于栖息地面积对种群密度的影响，一个可能的解释是，生活在碎片化栖息地的动物获得生存和繁殖所需食物的多样性受到限制。拟议的工作将测试栖息地破碎化通过限制动物获得食物多样性而导致人口密度降低的假设。研究人员将进行一项实验，在实验中，一群蚱蜢可以接触到各种各样的食物，这些食物的质量随时间和空间的变化而变化。同样大小的另一个种群将被划分为亚种群，每个亚种群对总资源范围的利用都是有限的。研究人员还将构建碎片化效应对消费者与资源相互作用的数学模型。这项工作将改善全世界人类土地利用决策的科学基础。此外，我们将利用该项目为数学、生态学和统计学研究生提供跨学科培训的研究问题。