Collaborative Research: LTREB Renewal: RUI: Impacts of insect herbivory on the pace and pattern of primary successional change at Mount St. Helens

这个长期项目验证了这样一个假设，即昆虫食草性是影响自然群落在灾难性干扰后恢复的主要因素，这一过程被称为初级演替。自1980年圣海伦斯火山爆发以来，人们通过实地调查和实验来量化食草动物对两种主要群落成员的影响：促进土壤发育的羽扇豆和提供许多动物所需的三维植被结构的主要来源的柳树。在接下来的五年中，这些方法将继续进行，以确定草食动物对寄主植物的影响如何与群落发展相关联，这些影响是否随着群落变得更加复杂而减弱，以及导致草食动物影响的因素在空间上的变化。这项研究的结果揭示了以前未被认识到的影响自然群落从灾难性干扰（如火山爆发）中恢复的机制。该项目为管理和恢复工作提供了必要的长期数据。该项目还通过学生的参与和与国家火山纪念碑及其非营利性合作伙伴圣海伦斯火山研究所的合作，加强了科学教育。研究人员将协助圣海伦山研究所开发资源，使高中科学课程能够参与现场的研究。

This long-term project tests the hypothesis that insect herbivory is a major factor influencing recovery of natural communities following catastrophic disturbance, a process known as primary succession. Since Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, field surveys and experiments have been used to quantify the impacts of herbivores on two key community members - lupins, which facilitate soil development, and willows, which provide the main source of three dimensional vegetation structure required by many animals. Over the next five years, these approaches will be continued in order to determine how effects of herbivores on host plants are linked to community development, if these effects attenuate as communities become more complex, and the factors that cause herbivore effects to vary across space. Results from this study have revealed previously unrecognized mechanisms that influence the recovery of natural communities from catastrophic disturbances such as volcanic eruptions. The project provides long-term data essential to management and restoration efforts. The project also enhances science education through student involvement and work with the National Volcanic Monument and its non-profit partner, the Mount St. Helens Institute. The researchers will assist the Mount St. Helens Institute in developing resources that enable high school science classes to participate in research at the site.