Collaborative Research - LTREB: Evolutionary Demography - the Contribution of Adaptation and Environment to Population Dynamics, Range Size, and Niche Width

该项目继续对加州本土植物的地理范围内的环境和人口变化进行为期7年的研究，以了解生物体分布的生态和进化极限。先前的工作表明，与气候、土壤以及与昆虫传粉者和食籽者的相互作用有关的环境变量在整个植物范围内都会发生变化。衡量人口生存能力的人口增长率也在向区间边缘下降。在接下来的五年里，研究将检验休眠种子在允许种群经受不利环境并长期存在方面所起的作用。休眠种子在土壤中埋藏2-5年。该项目还将确定休眠种子寿命范围内的差异。随着迫在眉睫的气候变化，许多生物当前地理范围的一部分可能变得不适合继续生存。现在了解是什么限制了物种在不利环境中定居，有助于预测物种对当前范围内不断恶化的条件的反应。除了它的科学影响，该项目还将通过吸引高中生、研究型和本科院校的本科生以及研究生参与研究，发挥重要的教育使命。项目负责人将通过课堂活动和实地项目，与来自加州农村高中和明尼苏达州圣保罗特许学校的高中生合作。

This project continues a 7-year study of environmental and demographic variation across the geographic range of a native California plant in order to understand the ecological and evolutionary limits on an organism's distribution. Prior work showed that environmental variables related to climate, soils, and interactions with insect pollinators and seed-eaters all change across the plant's range. Population growth rates, a measure of population viability, also decline toward the range edge. Over the next five years, research will examine the role that dormant seeds, which remain buried in the soil for 2-5 years, play in allowing populations to weather adverse environments and persist long-term. The project will also determine range-wide differences in the longevity of dormant seeds.With impending climate change, parts of the current geographic range of many organisms are likely to become unsuitable for continued persistence. Understanding what limits species from colonizing unfavorable environments now can help forecast species responses to deteriorating conditions within their current range. In addition to its scientific impacts, the project will serve an important educational mission by engaging high school students, undergraduate students from research and primarily undergraduate institutions, and graduate students in research. Project leaders will work with high school students from a rural California high school and from a charter school in St Paul Minnesota through in-class activities and field projects.