Chemical Stressor Effects on Amphibians: From Indivduals to Communities.

化学应激对两栖动物的影响：从个人到社区。

• 批准号: 0518250
• 负责人: Rick Relyea
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0518250&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Chemical; Stressor; Effects; Amphibians; Indivduals

The fields of toxicology and ecology are largely separate disciplines in the questions asked and the approaches taken. However, the two fields share a common goal of trying to understand how anthropogenic chemicals affect species and communities via direct and indirect food web effects. This common goal is especially strong for understanding how chemical stressors affect amphibian assemblages because of current conservation concerns over their global decline. Past studies of stress on amphibians have focused largely on the effects on single species under laboratory conditions. While this work has provided a great deal of excellent data, we ultimately wish to know what happens under more natural conditions. This proposal addresses these needs by using a series of field experiments that examine seven species of amphibians and common environmental stressor that are associated with amphibian declines. The work will focus on understanding how predators, and competitors interact with natural and anthropogenic stressors to affect aquatic communities. The broader impacts consist of training of graduate and undergraduate students (including under-represented groups). The benefits to society include a better understanding of how human stressors affect natural communities and global amphibian declines. Our results will be disseminated by the PI and students in journals, conferences, and the popular press. The experimental results will be developed into teaching modules for regional middle and high school teachers. Collectively, this research offers a great opportunity to advance our basic understanding of ecological systems and have a strong, positive impact on society.

在提出的问题和采取的方法上，毒理学和生态学在很大程度上是独立的学科。然而，这两个领域有一个共同的目标，即试图了解人为化学物质如何通过直接和间接的食物网效应影响物种和群落。这一共同目标对于理解化学压力源如何影响两栖动物群落尤其重要，因为目前人们对两栖动物全球数量下降感到担忧。过去对两栖动物压力的研究主要集中在实验室条件下对单一物种的影响。虽然这项工作提供了大量优秀的数据，但我们最终希望知道在更自然的条件下会发生什么。该提案通过一系列实地实验来解决这些需求，这些实验研究了七种两栖动物和与两栖动物数量下降相关的常见环境压力因素。这项工作将侧重于了解捕食者和竞争对手如何与自然和人为压力源相互作用，从而影响水生群落。更广泛的影响包括培训研究生和本科生（包括代表性不足的群体）。对社会的好处包括更好地了解人类压力源如何影响自然群落和全球两栖动物的减少。我们的结果将由PI和学生在期刊、会议和大众媒体上传播。实验结果将开发成区域初中和高中教师的教学模块。总的来说，这项研究提供了一个很好的机会来推进我们对生态系统的基本理解，并对社会产生强烈的积极影响。