Collaborative Research: Landscape connectivity and the movement ecology of plant and animal communities

合作研究：景观连通性和动植物群落的运动生态学

• 批准号: 1050929
• 负责人: Alice Harmon
• 金额: $ 13.02万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-05-01 至 2014-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1050929&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Landscape; connectivity; movement

Movement is a fundamental property of nearly all life on earth. The need to move is driven by a variety of requirements, including escape from harsh weather, establishment of populations in new places, and procurement of food and mates. Understanding and predicting the extent of movement is critical for knowing why and how organisms occur where they do. It is also essential for forecasting impacts of habitat alteration and climate change on biodiversity. But movement is difficult to measure, even for one species of plant or animal and particularly at the large areas over which organisms regularly move and biodiversity conservation occurs. This study uses novel techniques to do what has so far been nearly impossible ? to measure movement over long distances for a diverse group of plant and animal species. First, it uses a novel technique, ?tagging? entire communities with enriched nitrogen, which can be used to track the movement of any organism in the community exposed to that source nitrogen. Second, dispersal will be quantified in a unique, large-scale, well-replicated, landscape experiment ? one that is unprecedented in its size and longevity for testing effects of corridors? thin strips of habitat that connect otherwise isolated habitat patches.This study is important for effective conservation because it will measure the extent to which habitat fragmentation reduces the ability of plant and animal species to move through a landscape, and the extent to which wildlife corridors help organisms move across fragmented landscapes. Corridors are considered to be one of the most important tools available to help solve the many problems caused by habitat loss and fragmentation. Corridors may provide superhighways for plants and animals, and are expected to see increased traffic as climate changes, allowing organisms to shift their ranges as needed. This project will train undergraduate students through research and through the continuation of an award-winning collaborative program focused on mentoring an especially diverse set of students; support a K-12 program that provides environmental education to underprivileged youth; maintain scientific infrastructure (the world?s largest experiment on habitat corridors); and provide a long-term database on how organisms respond to corridors.

运动是地球上几乎所有生命的基本属性。 迁徙的需要是由多种需求驱动的，包括逃离恶劣的天气、在新的地方定居以及采购食物和配偶。 了解和预测运动的程度对于了解有机体为何以及如何在其所在位置发生至关重要。 它对于预测栖息地改变和气候变化对生物多样性的影响也至关重要。 但即使对于一种植物或动物来说，移动也很难测量，特别是在生物体定期移动和生物多样性保护发生的大片区域。 这项研究使用新颖的技术来完成迄今为止几乎不可能完成的任务？测量不同植物和动物物种的长距离运动。首先，它使用了一种新颖的技术，“标记”？整个群落都富含氮，可用于追踪群落中暴露于该氮源的任何生物体的运动。其次，扩散将通过独特的、大规模的、重复性良好的景观实验进行量化？一个规模和寿命都前所未有的测试走廊效果的项目？连接原本孤立的栖息地斑块的细长的栖息地。这项研究对于有效保护非常重要，因为它将测量栖息地破碎化在多大程度上降低了植物和动物物种在景观中移动的能力，以及野生动物走廊帮助生物体在破碎的景观中移动的程度。 走廊被认为是帮助解决栖息地丧失和破碎化造成的许多问题的最重要工具之一。 走廊可以为植物和动物提供高速公路，并且随着气候变化，预计交通量将会增加，从而使生物体能够根据需要改变其活动范围。 该项目将通过研究和继续屡获殊荣的合作项目来培训本科生，该项目的重点是指导特别多样化的学生；支持向贫困青少年提供环境教育的 K-12 计划；维护科学基础设施（世界上最大的栖息地走廊实验）；并提供关于生物体如何响应走廊的长期数据库。