QEIB: Quantifying and Testing Coexistence Mechanisms

解释生活在地球上任何一个地方的物种的多样性是生态学和进化生物学中的一个难题。这个问题的关键是理解通过允许相互竞争的物种共存来抑制物种损失的机制。尽管已经提出了许多物种共存的理论机制，但在该领域可信地测试这些机制是极其困难的。因此，对于哪些机制在任何一个地点运行，以及哪些机制更普遍地最重要，仍然存在很大争议。该项目将开发强大的新方法来测试物种共存机制。研究产品将是物种共存机制的新实验设计和相关统计检验。这项工作是基于PI和合作者在量化物种共存机制的强度方面的最新进展，这些机制被认为在可变环境中是重要的。这项工作的一个主要组成部分将是对物种共存机制的理论研究，以实现对超出当前模型的复杂情况的更好理解。这项研究的结果也将有助于政策制定者在土地管理和物种保护方面的努力。该项目的一个重要方面将是对年轻研究人员进行数学和统计学方面的定量生态技能培训。该项目将延续国际和平研究所实验室的一个强大传统，即培训来自代表性不足群体的不同年轻科学家群体。

Explaining the diversity of species living in any one locality on the earth is a difficult problem in ecology and evolutionary biology. Critical to this problem is understanding the mechanisms that inhibit species loss by allowing competing species to coexist with one another. Although many theoretical mechanisms of species coexistence have been proposed, testing these mechanisms in the field with confidence has been extremely difficult. Hence, there is still much controversy over which mechanisms operate in any one location, and which mechanisms are most important more generally. This project will develop powerful new ways of testing species coexistence mechanisms. The research products will be new experimental designs and associated statistical tests for species coexistence mechanisms. This work is based on recent advances by the PI and collaborators in quantifying the strengths of species coexistence mechanisms hypothesized to be important in variable environments. A major component of this work will be theoretical investigations of species coexistence mechanisms to achieve a better understanding of complex situations that go beyond current models. The results of this research will also be useful to policy makers regarding land management and species conservation efforts. An important aspect of this project will be the training of young researchers in quantitative ecological skills, both mathematical and statistical. This project will continue a strong tradition in the PI's lab of training a diverse group of young scientists with strong representation from under-represented groups.