Community-Wide Ecological Displacement and Community Assembly

竞争排斥原理是指具有相似生态需求的物种会竞争有限的资源，不太可能在局部共存。然而，不同的资源开发能力（例如，不同的形态）可能促进共存并增强当地多样性。物种之间的差异可能是预先存在的，也可能是在与生态上相似的物种接触时产生的。后一种现象，即角色置换（CD），是竞争排斥的必然结果。由于CD具有改变现有生物形态和产生新的生物形态的潜力，因此它是竞争的最重要和最不为人所知的生态/进化结果。特别是，它在构建生态群落和增强地方和区域生物多样性方面的潜力尚未得到充分的探索。本研究评估了CD在异质景观中物种共存和本地物种多样性中的作用。鉴于维持物种多样性及其在生态系统功能中的作用是社会的既得利益，该项目将重点放在维持和产生物种多样性的机制上是及时的。广泛的实地抽样和详细的机械实验相结合，在整个S. Appalachians的地方和区域尺度上，研究了不同物种数量和物种特征的蝾螈物种群的CD。项目涉及一个庞大的团队，包括博士后、本科生和研究生，他们将获得定量生态学方法的第一手培训，包括定量实地抽样和分析、基于概念的假设检验、进化生态学问题的实验方法、实验栖息地的设计和使用、计算机在数据采集和分析中的使用，以及从概念到发表的科学过程的所有阶段。

The competitive exclusion principle states that species with similar ecological requirements will compete for limiting resources, and are unlikely to locally co-exist. However, different abilities to exploit resources (e.g., different morphologies) may foster coexistence and enhance local diversity. Differences among species may pre-exist or may arise in contact with ecologi-cally similar species. The latter phenomenon, character displacement (CD), is a logical out-growth of competitive exclusion. Because of its potential for altering existing biological forms and generating new biological forms, CD is the most important and least understood ecologi-cal/evolutionary consequence of competition. In particular, its potential for structuring ecologi-cal communities and for enhancing local and regional biodiversity has not been thoroughly ex-plored. The research evaluates the role of CD in species coexistence and local species diversity arcoss heterogeneous landscapes. Focus of the project on mechanisms maintaining and generating species diversity is timely given society's vested interest in the maintenance of species diversity and its role in ecosystem function. Extensive field sampling and detailed mechanistic experiments are combined to examine CD in salamander species groups differing in numbers of species and spe-cies identity at local and regional scales across the S. Appalachians. Project involves a substan-tial team including post-docs, undergraduates and graduate students, who get first-hand training in quantitative ecological methods including quantitative field sampling and analysis, conceptu-ally-based hypothesis testing, experimental approaches to questions in evolutionary ecology, de-sign and use of experimental habitats, use of computers in data acquisition and analysis, and ex-posure to all phases of the scientific process from conceptualization to publication.