Collaborative Research: Testing the effects of phylogenetic diversity on restoration outcomes in tallgrass prairie

来自芝加哥植物园、莫顿植物园和合作机构的一组科学家将在进化生物学和生态恢复的交叉领域进行研究——修复受损和退化的栖息地。他们的研究调查了进化生物学的一个基本发现的实际含义：相互之间关系不太密切的植物物种往往在它们的特征和它们所扮演的生态角色方面更加不同。这很重要，因为包含更大性状多样性的植物群更好地支持保护和土地管理的关键目标，如碳储存和支持野生动物。该项目将测试选择一组异常多样化（进化上不相关）的植物物种用于草原恢复是否是一个很好的经验法则，可以在退化的生态系统恢复中取得更好的结果。此外，该项目将有助于高中生和大学生的科学参与和早期职业科学家的培训。与公众的接触将通过牵头机构进行。广泛的会员和访客网络。恢复科学面临的一个关键挑战是指导开发多样化、有弹性的系统，提供与自然群落相关的全套服务。将系统发育多样性纳入恢复是一个未被充分探索的、潜在的有力工具，可以帮助应对这一挑战。该项目将通过观察和实验方法解决基础生态学和应用生态学的重要问题，测试系统发育多样性对草原生态系统恢复结果的影响。决策分析将用于确定恢复管理者如何将系统发育考虑纳入多目标恢复工作。结果将转化为实用的恢复工具，包括指导物种选择决策的基于网络的工具。

A team of scientists from the Chicago Botanic Garden, The Morton Arboretum, and partner institutions will conduct research at the intersection of evolutionary biology and ecological restoration -- the repair of damaged and degraded habitats. Their research investigates the practical implications of a fundamental finding of evolutionary biology: plant species that are less closely related to each other tend to be more distinct in their traits and in the ecological roles they perform. This is important, as groups of plants that encompass greater trait diversity better support key goals of conservation and land management, such as carbon storage and support of wildlife. This project will test whether selecting an unusually diverse (evolutionarily unrelated) set of plant species to use in prairie restoration is a good rule-of-thumb for achieving better outcomes in restoration of degraded ecosystems. In addition, the project will contribute to scientific engagement of high school and college students and the training of early career scientists. Outreach to the public will be performed through the lead institutions? broad networks of members and visitors.A key challenge for restoration science is to guide the development of diverse, resilient systems that provide the full suite of services associated with natural communities. Incorporating phylogenetic diversity into restoration is an underexplored, potentially powerful tool to help meet this challenge. This project will address questions important to both basic and applied ecology through observational and experimental approaches that test the influence of phylogenetic diversity on restoration outcomes in prairie ecosystems. Decision analysis will be used to determine how restoration managers can incorporate phylogenetic considerations into multi-objective restoration efforts. Results will be translated into practical tools for restoration, including web-based tools for guiding species-selection decisions.