EAGER:The 'Keystone Community Concept' as a probe to understand metacommunity ecology.

理解生态群落的经典方法是基于生态位，并将当地的环境条件与群落中的物种联系起来。最近对这种方法的挑战强调了在更广泛的空间尺度上起作用的过程的重要性，例如扩散和灭绝。虽然自然群落很可能受到当地和区域因素的影响，但这些因素之间的相互作用极难研究。这个EAGER项目将开发新的理论，统计工具和实验协议，以量化自然，未被操纵的社区中的扩散限制，灭绝和基于生态位的社区组装的作用。由于所提出的方法很少得到彻底开发，因此研究是有风险的。它承诺改变社区生态学领域，从目前的二分法，因此简单化的社区监管的观点，在广泛的空间尺度上整合不同的过程。通过扩展现有理论并开发新的统计工具箱来在自然群落中检验这一理论，这项工作将对整个生态学领域做出重大贡献。研究结果将直接适用于生物多样性保护方面的关键问题。该项目将包括一个研讨会，以巩固理论的后生态学和保护生物学之间的联系。通过这次研讨会，主要是理论研究将获得实际应用。本科生，研究生和博士后研究人员将参与该项目，获得理论与实验相结合的经验。该项目还将让中学教师与德克萨斯大学的U Teach计划合作。

The classical approach to understanding ecological communities is based on the niche, and relates local environmental conditions to the species found in a community. Recent challenges to this approach emphasize the importance of processes that act over broader spatial scales, such as dispersal and extinction. While it is likely that natural communities are influenced by both local and regional factors, the interaction between these has been extremely difficult to study. This EAGER project will develop new theory, statistical tools, and experimental protocols to quantify the roles of dispersal limitation, extinction, and niche-based community assembly in natural, unmanipulated communities. Because few of the proposed approaches are thoroughly developed, the research is risky. It promises to transform the field of community ecology from its current dichotomous and therefore simplistic view of community regulation to one that integrates diverse processes across broad spatial scales. As a result, scientific understanding of natural communities and the maintenance of biodiversity will be significantly improved.By extending existing theory and developing a new, statistical toolbox to test this theory in natural communities, the work will contribute significantly to the general field of ecology. Results will be directly applicable to critical questions in conservation of biodiversity. The project will involve a workshop to consolidate links between theoretical metacommunity ecology and conservation biology. Through this workshop, research that is primarily theoretical will gain practical application. Undergraduate students, graduate students and a postdoctoral researcher will participate in the project, gaining experience in linking theory with experimentation. The project will also engage secondary school teachers in association with the University of Texas U Teach program.