COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: MODELING SUCCESSIONAL VEGETATION DYNAMICS IN WET TROPICAL FORESTS AT MULTIPLE SCALES: INTEGRATING NEIGHBORHOOD EFFECTS, FUNCTIONAL TRAITS, AND PHYLOGENY

合作研究：多尺度模拟湿热带森林的植被演替动态：整合邻里效应、功能特征和系统发育

• 批准号: 1050957
• 负责人: Maria Uriarte
• 金额: $ 31万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 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: 2011-04-15 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1050957&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; MODELING; SUCCESSIONAL; VEGETATION

Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain the high number of species present in tropical forests. The outcome of these processes, which could include random or non-random elements, may be reflected in the evolutionary history and distribution of functional traits (plant size, leaf size, flowering pattern, etc.) in a community. Because they reflect "community assembly in action", successional tropical forests (developing after a disturbance) provide an ideal natural laboratory for testing the power of an integrated multi-faceted approach to community assembly. Using data collected in secondary and mature forests in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, the proposed research will develop a novel approach to understanding community assembly that will integrate detailed forest inventory data. This approach will be used to assess the relative importance of habitat differences, niche differences, and lack of seedlings in driving tropical forest community assembly at different spatial scales and across life history stages. Coordinated data collection will allow for comparisons of functional traits across successional stages within a context of the plants' evolutionary history, which will be reconstructed using DNA bar-coding technology.The major objectives of this research are to (1) compare patterns of species-level phylogenetic (evolutionary) relationships and functional similarity of plants between successional and mature forest communities; (2) link functional traits and phylogenetic structure with population and community dynamics through sophisticated models of tree mortality and growth, and (3) assess the role of recruitment limitation and the relative importance of functional and phylogenetic relatedness in predicting species- and stage-specific population dynamics during succession.Secondary forests now cover more area than remaining old-growth forests in many tropical countries and are increasingly important components of tropical landscapes for biodiversity conservation and provision of ecosystem services. A mechanistic understanding of how these forest communities are assembled is urgently needed. The evolutionary relationships among plants that will be discovered as part of this project will contribute to a deepening understanding of the angiosperm evolutionary history. Two doctoral graduate students, one postdoctoral researcher, and undergraduate students from the University of Puerto Rico, the largest Hispanic institution in the US federal system, will be trained.

已经提出了几种机制来解释热带森林中存在的大量物种。这些过程的结果（可能包括随机或非随机元素）可以反映在社区中功能性状（植物大小，叶子大小，开花模式等）的进化历史和分布中。由于它们反映了“行动中的社区大会”，因此继任的热带森林（在干扰后发展）为测试综合多面方法的社区集会的力量提供了理想的自然实验室。使用哥斯达黎加和波多黎各的二级和成熟森林中收集的数据，拟议的研究将开发一种新颖的方法来了解社区大会，以整合详细的森林库存数据。这种方法将用于评估栖息地差异，利基差异以及缺乏幼苗在不同空间尺度和整个生活历史阶段驱动热带森林社区组装方面的相对重要性。协调的数据收集将允许在植物的进化历史的背景下比较跨演替阶段的功能性状，该历史将使用DNA棒编码技术进行重建。这项研究的主要目标与（1）比较（1）比较物种水平的（进化（进化）关系（进化）关系的模式，并在连续森林森林森林森林中的植物之间的相似性和功能相似。 （2）通过复杂的树木死亡率和生长模型将功能性状和系统发育结构与人口和社区动态联系起来，（3）评估招聘限制的作用以及功能和系统发育相关性在预测物种和阶段特定种群动态中的功能和系统发育相关性的相对重要性，现在涵盖了许多旧森林的范围，许多人涵盖了许多旧的森林，许多森林的范围更重要的是，许多森林的群体以及许多森林的范围内的森林范围内的森林范围更高。生物多样性保护和生态系统服务提供的景观。迫切需要对这些森林社区的组装方式的机械理解。作为该项目的一部分将发现的植物之间的进化关系将有助于加深对被子植物进化史的理解。将对两名博士研究生，一名博士后研究员和来自美国联邦联邦系统中最大的西班牙裔机构的波多黎各大学的本科生。