OPUS: Control Processes and Interaction Pathways in Terrestrial Food Webs

OPUS：陆地食物网中的控制过程和相互作用途径

• 批准号: 0639835
• 负责人: David Wise
• 金额: $ 11.48万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-04-01 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0639835&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OPUS; Control; Processes; Interaction; Pathways

Trophic cascades, which are predator-initiated interaction pathways producing indirect effects in food webs, can influence rates of basic ecosystem processes such as plant productivity and leaf-litter decomposition. Theory predicts that the high diversity of generalist predators in terrestrial food webs should severely dampen control processes involving trophic cascades. Some results of the PI's research program support these predictions, whereas other findings fail to confirm theory. By utilizing several statistical techniques to synthesize and integrate experimental results, the proposed research will identify major pathways of trophic cascades and reveal how variation in climatic variables may affect control processes involving these pathways. The scientific insights generated by the research relate directly to several challenges facing contemporary society: (1) understanding how biodiversity and food-web dynamics are related, which is critical to developing programs in biodiversity conservation; (2) understanding how generalist predators can be utilized to control insect pests in agriculture, leading to reduced reliance on pesticides; and (3) understanding how changes in climate may affect species interactions that alter litter decomposition and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. The research will strengthen the infrastructure of science by introducing a graduate student in statistics to contemporary ecological research.

营养级联是捕食者发起的相互作用途径，在食物网中产生间接影响，可以影响植物生产力和叶凋落物分解等基本生态系统过程的速率。理论预测，在陆地食物网的多面手捕食者的高度多样性，应严重抑制控制过程涉及营养级联。PI的研究项目的一些结果支持这些预测，而其他发现未能证实理论。通过利用几种统计技术来综合和整合实验结果，拟议的研究将确定营养级联的主要途径，并揭示气候变量的变化如何影响涉及这些途径的控制过程。该研究产生的科学见解与当代社会面临的几个挑战直接相关：（1）了解生物多样性和食物网动态之间的关系，这对制定生物多样性保护计划至关重要;（2）了解如何利用通才捕食者来控制农业害虫，从而减少对农药的依赖;以及（3）了解气候变化如何影响物种间的相互作用，从而改变森林生态系统中凋落物的分解和养分循环。这项研究将通过向当代生态研究介绍统计学研究生来加强科学基础设施。