Collaborative Research: Stream Consumers and Lotic Ecosystem Rates (SCALER): Scaling from Centimeters to Continents

规模、消费者和洛蒂克生态系统费率(SCALER)将解决的首要问题是：如何应用小规模生态实验来理解整个生态系统的行为？提供资金是为了解决：1)如何扩大河流的基本性质和动物对这些性质的影响的测量，以预测河流网络的生态系统特征。2)北美各地广泛的生态系统(从冻土带到热带森林)的比例模式如何比较？更大规模的实验将在热带森林、温带山地森林、草原、北部北方常绿森林和苔原地区进行。这五个地区的溪流将分别按厘米至10 S米的尺度进行小、中、大溪流的检查。将测量溪流新陈代谢(光合作用和呼吸作用)和养分吸收的速率，以及这些速率对动物排除的反应方式(用于模拟溪流中动物多样性的丧失)。这些局部结果将通过建模与流域和区域的比例相关联。分水岭规模的预测将通过更广泛但不那么密集的抽样来验证。将提供如何将河流中的生态测量和实验按比例扩展到流域的机械解释。将在整个非洲大陆的五个地区中的每一个地区进行这种规模的表征，以探索不同自然生境的规模有何不同。该项目将产生的知识对于量化对河流生态系统过程的控制以及管理人类对整个流域的影响至关重要。实验和模拟结果将与一般生态学相关，因为很少有嵌套的、实验的和理论上耦合的缩放实验在任何环境中进行。结果将告知那些参与保护、管理和恢复淡水资源的人。资源管理人员将获得一个量化的理论基础和框架，将当地的衡量标准与区域模式联系起来。这个高度合作的团队将培训6名研究生，5名博士后，并指导3名职业生涯早期的教职员工。将通过举办与目标和研究设计有关的讲习班，鼓励更多的合作伙伴在更多的地点协作和执行类似的项目。

The overarching question that Scale, Consumers and Lotic Ecosystem Rates (SCALER) will address is: How can small-scale ecological experiments be applied to understand the behavior of entire ecological systems? Funds are provided to address:: 1) How should measures of fundamental properties of streams and effects of animals on those properties be scaled up to predict ecosystem characteristics of stream networks. 2) How do patterns of scaling compare across the wide array of ecological systems (from tundra to tropical forest) that occurs across North American? The SCALER experiment will be done in tropical forest, temperate mountainous forest, prairie, northern boreal evergreen forest, and tundra areas. Streams in each of these five areas will be examined at scales of centimeters to 10?s of meters in small, medium and large streams. Rates of stream metabolism (photosynthesis and respiration) and nutrient uptake will be measured as well as the way these rates respond to animal exclusions (used to mimic loss of animal diversity in streams). These local results will be linked to the scale of watersheds and regions by modeling. Watershed scale predictions will be verified by broader, but less intensive sampling. Mechanistic explanation of how ecological measurements and experiments in streams can be scaled to watersheds will be provided. This scaling will be characterized in each of the five areas across the continent to explore how scaling differs across natural habitats. The knowledge that will be generated by this project is essential to quantify controls on stream ecosystem processes as well as to manage human impacts on entire watersheds. The experimental and modeling results will be relevant to general ecology because few nested, and experimental and theoretically coupled scaling experiments have been undertaken in any environment. Results will inform those involved in conservation, management, and restoration of freshwater resources. Resource managers will gain a quantitative rationale and framework to link local measurements to regional patterns. The highly collaborative team will train six graduate students, five post doctoral students, and mentor three early career faculty members. Additional collaborations will be encouraged to collaborate and perform similar projects at additional sites through workshops related to the objectives and research design.