Collaborative Research: Testing a Mechanism for the Productivity-Beta Diversity Relationship in Plants

智力优势：在全球范围内，雨量和太阳能充足的地区动植物多样性最高，通过光合作用产生高碳捕获率，称为初级生产力。这个项目将分析这种模式以前没有研究过的一个方面，即生产力如何影响不同土壤上植物的专业化程度，这可能会导致不同地点之间物种组成的差异。在多产的气候中，这个项目将检验这样的假设，即不同土壤上的植物群落将高度不同，因为激烈的竞争导致土壤生态位变窄，而在更冷或更干旱的气候中，预测跨越土壤边界的植物群落的差异较小。这些预测将通过比较化学成分不寻常的土壤上的植物群落，如蛇纹石、石灰岩和白云石，与附近正常土壤上的植物群落，跨越加利福尼亚州和奥扎克地区从高到低的降雨梯度来检验。为了更好地理解观察到的模式的机制，将对加利福尼亚州邻近的蛇形和非蛇形植物群落的降雨量和植物竞争进行实验操作。这项研究很重要，因为特定土壤特有的植物物种和群落是全球植物多样性的重要贡献者。我们的结果将有助于理解气候如何控制植物多样性、植物群落组成，以及植物群落受到生物入侵的影响程度。更广泛的影响：来自代表性不足群体的一名研究生和几名本科生将接受这一奖项的培训。研究人员、机构科学家和非营利性环境组织将通过生物复杂性知识网络(Knb.ecoinformatics.org)和加州大学自然保护区系统数据注册处的数据档案获得数据。

Intellectual merit: Globally, the diversity of plants and animals is highest in regions where rainfall and solar energy are abundant, which yields high rates of carbon capture via photosynthesis termed primary productivity. This project will analyze a previously unexamined aspect of this pattern, namely, how productivity affects the degree to which plants are specialized on different soils, which can drive the variation in species composition among different locations. In productive climates, this project will test the hypothesis that plant communities on different soils will be highly distinct because intensified competition leads to narrower soil niches, whereas in colder or more arid climates less distinctiveness of plant communities across soil boundaries is predicted. These predictions will be tested by comparing plant communities on chemically unusual soils such as serpentine, limestone, and dolomite, to those on nearby normal soils, across gradients of high to low rainfall in California and the Ozarks. To better understand the mechanisms for the observed patterns, experimental manipulations of rainfall and plant competition in neighboring serpentine and non-serpentine plant communities in California will be conducted. This research is important because plant species and communities endemic to particular soils are important contributors to global botanical diversity. Our results will help understand how climate controls plant diversity, plant community composition, and the degree to which plant communities are affected by biological invasions. Broader impacts: A graduate student from an underrepresented group and several undergraduates will be trained with this award. Data will be made available to researchers, agency scientists, and nonprofit environmental groups through the data archives of the Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (knb.ecoinformatics.org) and the UC Natural Reserve System Data Registry.