Collaborative Research: Modeling the Tradeoffs within Food-, Fear-, and Thermal-Scapes to Explain Habitat Use by Mammalian Herbivores

合作研究：模拟食物、恐惧和热景观之间的权衡，以解释哺乳动物草食动物的栖息地利用

• 批准号: 1146194
• 负责人: Jennifer Forbey
• 金额: $ 29.12万
• 依托单位: Boise State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1146194&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Modeling; Tradeoffs; within

Because natural landscapes are changing rapidly, understanding the factors that determine how organisms select both habitats and resources remains a central question in ecology. Theory predicts that animals can balance the costs posed by food quantity or quality, predation risk, and the physical environment, but few studies have adequately assessed how multiple variables interact at spatial and temporal scales that are functionally relevant to a foraging animal. This research offers a new and synthetic approach to understand functional links between habitat features and habitat use. It combines behavioral, nutritional, chemical, spatial, and physiological ecology to evaluate comprehensively the factors that influence habitat use by both a generalist and specialist herbivore. Tradeoffs among four habitat features (nutrients in food, toxins in food, security cover, and thermal cover) will be measured in the laboratory and under natural field conditions to model and compare the functional importance of these features to both specialist and generalist species. The investigators will integrate results to predict resource selection and infer habitat quality when organisms are faced with complex decisions in natural environments. This research develops a new method for quantifying habitat value in a relatively simple system that will enhance predictions of the consequences of environmental change in more complex systems. It includes a novel educational model that trains graduate, undergraduate, and high school students who will conduct research collaboratively across three universities, participate in a tiered mentoring program, and engage with the community and regional biologists. This research and educational program is designed to broaden the scientific experience of students, to foster collaborations between academia, land management agencies and the public, and to contribute to society by providing models that predict how animals will alter their use of habitats in rapidly changing ecosystems.

由于自然景观正在迅速变化，了解决定生物如何选择栖息地和资源的因素仍然是生态学的核心问题。 理论预测，动物可以平衡食物数量或质量，捕食风险和物理环境所带来的成本，但很少有研究充分评估多个变量如何在空间和时间尺度上相互作用，这些变量与觅食动物的功能相关。 这项研究提供了一个新的和综合的方法来了解生境特征和生境利用之间的功能联系。它结合了行为，营养，化学，空间和生理生态学，全面评估影响栖息地利用的通才和专家草食动物的因素。权衡四个栖息地功能（食物中的营养物质，食物中的毒素，安全覆盖，热覆盖）将在实验室和自然条件下进行测量，以模拟和比较这些功能的重要性，专家和通才物种。 研究人员将整合结果，以预测资源选择和推断栖息地质量时，生物体面临着复杂的决定，在自然环境中。这项研究开发了一种新的方法，在一个相对简单的系统中量化栖息地价值，这将增强对更复杂系统中环境变化后果的预测。 它包括一种新颖的教育模式，培养研究生，本科生和高中生，他们将在三所大学合作进行研究，参加分层指导计划，并与社区和区域生物学家接触。 该研究和教育计划旨在拓宽学生的科学经验，促进学术界，土地管理机构和公众之间的合作，并通过提供预测动物将如何改变其在快速变化的生态系统中对栖息地的使用的模型来为社会做出贡献。