Collaborative Research: Experimental community assembly in natural and disturbed ecosystems: testing the role of ecological sorting in ant community assembly

栖息地干扰和相关入侵物种的综合影响可能是对陆地生物多样性最重要和最普遍的威胁。入侵动物物种通常与栖息地干扰有关，但这种联系的原因尚不清楚。由这笔赠款资助的实验将使用入侵火蚁和美国本土蚂蚁作为模型，剖析和识别蚂蚁生活史的特殊特征，例如栖息地选择，这些特征似乎使入侵蚂蚁适应人类修改的栖息地，使本地蚂蚁适应自然栖息地。因此，这些实验将确定栖息地干扰如何有利于火蚁，而不是本地蚂蚁。由于很大比例的入侵物种受到生态干扰的影响，研究结果将对了解入侵动物有很大的相关性，将为入侵动力学建模提供必要的数据，并可能有助于减轻许多入侵物种的负面影响的策略。这项研究具有重要的教育成分，因为它非常适合培养本科生和研究生的生物生物学和生态学。来自代表性不足群体的两名研究生和众多本科生将接受培训，并积极参与研究。研究结果还将用于提高当地公众对入侵物种和栖息地干扰问题的认识，强调生态干扰在我国东南沿海平原森林中的作用、普遍性和重要性，这是生物多样性的国宝。将为初中生和高中生提供“研究周末”，让他们了解佛罗里达长叶松林生态，并参与研究项目。当地的一家自然历史博物馆还将安装一个互动展览。

The combined effects of habitat disturbance and associated invasive species are perhaps the most important and pervasive threat to terrestrial biodiversity. Invasive animal species are typically associated with habitat disturbance, but the causes of this association are poorly understood. The experiments funded by this grant will use both the invasive fire ant and native U.S. ants as a model to dissect and identify the particular features of ant life history, such as habitat selection, that appear to adapt invasive ants to human-modified habitats and native ants to natural habitats. The experiments will thus determine how habitat disturbance favors the fire ant but not native ants. Because a large proportion of invasive species are favored by ecological disturbance, results will have great relevance to understanding invasive animals, will provide data necessary to model invasion dynamics, and may contribute to strategies for mitigating the negative effects of many invasive species. This research has a significant educational component as it is ideally suited to training both undergraduate and graduate students in organismal biology and ecology. Two graduate students from underrepresented groups and numerous undergraduates will be trained and actively involved in the research. Results will also be used to increase local public awareness of the issue of invasive species and habitat disturbance, emphasizing the role, prevalence, and importance of ecological disturbance in our southeastern coastal plains forest, a national treasure of biodiversity. 'Research weekends' will be offered to middle and high school students in which they will learn about Florida longleaf pine forest ecology and engage in the research project. An interactive exhibit will also be installed in a local natural history museum.