The importance of biotic interactions for demography, niches and geographical ranges of South African Proteaceae (InterNiche)

生物相互作用对于南非山龙眼科的人口统计学、生态位和地理范围的重要性 (InterNiche)

• 批准号: 212130087
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Frank Schurr
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Landschafts- und Pflanzenökologie (320)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/212130087?language=en
• 关键词: importance; biotic; interactions; demography; niches

A fundamental, yet largely unanswered, question in ecology is how biotic interactions among organisms affect the demographic performance, ecological niches and geographic ranges of species at large spatial scales. Here, we address this question for shrubs of the Proteaceae family from the South African Fynbos biome. We build on a previous project that assembled an extensive dataset on large-scale variation in demography, functional traits and biotic environments, and that developed process-based statistical models which use these data to infer the realized niches of 26 species. The realized niche is the set of environments in which a species can form stable populations in the presence of interacting species. In the present project, we will considerably extend the dataset and the statistical models to address three major questions: (1) how does the interplay between biotic interactions and the physical environment affect large-scale variation in key demographic rates (reproduction and mortality), (2) how do plant functional traits shape biotic interactions and demographic responses to the physical environment, and (3) to what extent do biotic interactions alter the ecological niches and geographic ranges of species. By answering these questions, the project will conduct novel, large-scale tests of foundational ecological concepts and theories. In particular, we will use first principles of demography to quantify the large-scale fundamental niches of species (the set of environments in which a species can form stable populations in the absence of interacting species). We will then contrast fundamental and realized niches to quantify the impact of biotic interactions on the large-scale performance and geographic ranges of species. In summary, this project will yield new insights into the interaction and coexistence of species at biogeographical scales. It will thus make substantial contributions to the understanding of large-scale biodiversity dynamics.

生态学中一个基本但在很大程度上尚未回答的问题是，生物之间的相互作用如何影响大空间尺度上物种的人口表现、生态位和地理范围。在这里，我们为来自南非Fynbos生物群的Proteaceae家族的灌木解决这个问题。我们建立在之前的一个项目的基础上，该项目收集了关于人口统计学、功能特征和生物环境的大规模变化的广泛数据集，并开发了基于过程的统计模型，使用这些数据来推断26个物种的已实现生态位。实现的生态位是一个物种在存在相互作用的物种的情况下可以形成稳定种群的一组环境。在本项目中，我们将大大扩展数据集和统计模型以解决三个主要问题：(1)生物相互作用和物理环境之间的相互作用如何影响关键人口率(生殖和死亡)的大范围变化；(2)植物功能性状如何塑造生物相互作用和对物理环境的人口响应；以及(3)生物相互作用在多大程度上改变物种的生态位和地理范围。通过回答这些问题，该项目将对基本生态概念和理论进行新颖的、大规模的测试。特别是，我们将使用人口学的基本原理来量化物种的大规模基本生态位(在没有相互作用的物种的情况下，一个物种可以形成稳定种群的一组环境)。然后，我们将对比基本的和已实现的生态位，以量化生物相互作用对物种的大规模表现和地理范围的影响。总而言之，该项目将对生物地理尺度上物种之间的相互作用和共存产生新的见解。因此，它将为理解大规模生物多样性动态做出重大贡献。