NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology

本行动资助美国国家科学基金会2008年度生物学博士后研究奖学金。该奖学金支持杨素安的一项研究和培训计划，题为“了解植物传粉者群落中物种相互作用网络与物种共存之间的关系”。这项研究的主办机构是宾夕法尼亚州立大学，赞助科学家是Katriona Shea博士和Reka Albert博士。依赖相互作用的物种之间的联系结构可以为群落对灭绝的恢复力提供线索，但不太清楚的是，随着新物种的加入，无论是通过自然的殖民过程还是人类辅助的入侵，这种结构如何塑造一个群落。这项研究的重点是植物和传粉者之间的联系网络结构如何影响群落聚集，或物种的定植和灭绝。反过来，随着时间的推移，这种物种的变化可能会改变群落内相互作用的结构。这种反馈将通过开发群落组装的模拟模型（使用来自真实植物-传粉者系统的数据）来研究，同时跟踪物种增加或灭绝时相互作用结构的变化。本研究的训练目标是网络理论和仿真建模。更广泛的影响具有保护意义。世界上生物多样性的变化大部分是由于人类造成的局部和大范围的灭绝；这可能会导致整个群落的连锁反应，因为物种之间的相互作用被破坏了。了解不同的物种是如何与它们的群落联系在一起的，将使科学家能够帮助决策者对它们的维护和恢复进行适当的保护管理。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan entitled "Understanding the relationship between the web of species interactions and the coexistence of species in a plant-pollinator community" for Suann Yang. The host institution for this research is Pennsylvania State University and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Katriona Shea and Dr. Reka Albert. The structure of the links between dependent interacting species can provide clues to the resilience of a community to extinctions, but less well understood is how this structure may shape a community as new species are added, either through natural processes of colonization or human-aided invasion. This research is focusing on how the network structure of links between plants and pollinators influences community assembly, or the colonization and extinction of species. In turn, this species change over time may alter the structure of the interactions within the community. This feedback will be studied by developing simulation models of community assembly (using data from real plant-pollinator systems), while tracking the changes in the interaction structure as species are added or go extinct. Training objectives of this research are in network theory and simulation modeling. The broader impacts have conservation significance. Much of the world's change in biodiversity is due to human-caused local and widespread extinction; and this may cause ripple effects across a community as species interaction links are disrupted. Understanding how different species are linked to their communities will allow scientists to assist policy makers in appropriate conservation management for their maintenance and restoration.