The role of species interactions on community response to climate change.

了解物种相互作用缓冲或加剧群落对气候变化的反应的机制，对于寻求减轻全球变暖对物种灭绝影响的土地管理者和保护主义者来说是一个至关重要的问题。随着气候变化的观点越来越多地纳入管理计划，迫切需要将环境条件、人口统计学和物种相互作用的时空变化结合起来的研究，为保护从业者提供他们所需的知识工具。拟议的研究将通过研究气候的物理强迫如何与狼（Canis lupus）自上而下的控制相互作用来影响黄石国家公园内麋鹿（Cervus elaphus）介导的食物网，从而开始解决这一关键的知识缺口。这项工作将通过强调对气候变化的一般机制和原理的理解来推进生态响应的研究，这将成为有价值的教学和政策制定工具。拟议的工作将为研究生和本科生的科学研究培训提供许多机会。一个特别的重点将放在从黄石公园附属部落招募美国土著研究助理。这项研究的结果将与黄石公园、皇家岛和格陵兰岛的土地和野生动物管理者分享。更一般地说，结果也将通过各种媒体向公众传达。关于物种对气候变化的反应的真实世界的科学例子，特别是像狼和麋鹿这样具有魅力和经济重要性的大型物种，对于教育公众和政策制定者关于全球变暖的现实至关重要。

Understanding the mechanisms by which species interactions either buffer or exacerbate community response to climate change is a question of critical importance to land managers and conservationists seeking to mitigate the impact of global warming on species extinctions. Research that integrates temporal and spatial variation in environmental conditions, population demography and species interactions is critically needed to provide conservation practitioners with the knowledge tools they will need as a climate-change perspective is increasingly incorporated into management plans. The proposed research will begin to address this critical knowledge gap through a study of how physical forcing by climate interacts with top-down control by wolves (Canis lupus) to influence the elk (Cervus elaphus) mediated food web in Yellowstone National Park. This work will advance the study of ecological response to climate change by emphasizing the understanding of general mechanisms and principles which will make valuable teaching and policy making tools. The proposed work will provide numerous opportunities for graduate and undergraduate training in scientific research. A special emphasis will be placed on recruiting Native American research assistants from Yellowstone affiliated tribes. Results from the study will be shared with land and wildlife managers in Yellowstone, Isle Royale and Greenland. More generally, results also will be conveyed to the public through various media outlets. Real world scientific examples of species response to climate change, particularly large charismatic and economically important species such as wolves and elk, are crucial to educating the public and policy makers regarding the realities of global warming.