Community Effects of Competition and Predation across Latitude and Implications for Species Invasions

跨纬度竞争和捕食的社区影响以及对物种入侵的影响

• 批准号: 1434528
• 负责人: Amy Freestone
• 金额: $ 85万
• 依托单位: Temple University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1434528&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Community; Effects; Competition; Predation; across

Global patterns of biodiversity demonstrate that most of the species on earth occur in the tropics, with strikingly fewer species occurring in higher-latitude regions. Biologists predict that this global pattern of species diversity is likely shaped by thee ecological interactions between species. Yet few detailed experimental data exist that demonstrate how species interactions influence natural communities from the tropics to the arctic. Therefore, a significant opportunity exists to transform our understanding of how these fundamental species interactions shape patterns of biodiversity across the globe. Furthermore, these species interactions have the strong potential to limit potentially harmful biological invasions by non-native species, which are often transported by human activities that can breach historical dispersal barriers, such as ocean basins and continents. Biological invasions can cause undesired ecological and economic effects and are considered one of the primary drivers of global change. Through extensive field research on marine ecosystems along the Pacific Coast of North and Central America, from the tropics to the subarctic, this project will study ecological factors that shape global patterns of diversity and limit biological invasions. Undergraduate and graduate students and a postdoctoral fellow will be fully-integrated members of the research team. The objective of mentoring these early-career scientists will be to integrate scientific, professional, and cross-cultural training into a comprehensive professional development framework that will prepare them for a successful scientific career in an international forum. The research team will further promote awareness of marine and invasion ecology through a suite of activities, including outreach and educational activities for school children and young adults in Philadelphia, Alaska and Panama. Information that can be applied to the management of non-native species will be disseminated to a wide diversity of U.S. and international stakeholders.Biologists have long theorized that the latitudinal diversity gradient may be shaped by stronger species interactions, such as competition and predation, occurring in the tropics than at higher latitudes. Prior research suggests that predation pressure is indeed stronger at lower latitudes, but it is unclear how interactive effects of predation and competition structure communities to maintain these diversity patterns in ecological time. This project represents an international research program to expand ecological understanding of species interactions across latitude. The objectives are to determine the relative influences of two primary species interactions, competition and predation, on patterns of species diversity, community assembly and sensitivity to species invasion. Field research will employ a large-scale experimental approach that focuses on sessile marine invertebrate communities across 47 degrees of latitude (over 7000 km). Experiments will manipulate levels of predation and competition for one year and will be conducted in four regions, ranging from the subarctic to the tropics: Alaska, California, Mexico, and Panama. Communities of sessile marine invertebrates, composed of both native and non-native species, will be examined iteratively under different predation and competition regimes to evaluate community dynamics. The relative importance of a suite of factors, including environmental conditions and recruitment rates, to interaction outcomes will be evaluated.

全球生物多样性模式表明，地球上的大多数物种都出现在热带地区，而高纬度地区的物种则少得多。 生物学家预测，这种全球物种多样性模式可能是由物种之间的生态相互作用决定的。 然而，很少有详细的实验数据能够证明物种相互作用如何影响从热带到北极的自然群落。 因此，存在一个重要的机会来改变我们对这些基本物种相互作用如何塑造全球生物多样性模式的理解。 此外，这些物种之间的相互作用具有限制非本地物种潜在有害生物入侵的巨大潜力，这些物种通常是通过人类活动进行传播的，这些活动可能会突破历史扩散障碍，例如洋盆和大陆。 生物入侵可能会造成不良的生态和经济影响，并被认为是全球变化的主要驱动因素之一。 通过对北美和中美洲太平洋沿岸从热带到亚北极的海洋生态系统进行广泛的实地研究，该项目将研究塑造全球多样性模式和限制生物入侵的生态因素。本科生、研究生以及博士后将成为研究团队的完整成员。 指导这些早期职业科学家的目标是将科学、专业和跨文化培训整合到一个全面的专业发展框架中，为他们在国际论坛上取得成功的科学生涯做好准备。 研究小组将通过一系列活动进一步提高人们对海洋和入侵生态的认识，包括为费城、阿拉斯加和巴拿马的学童和年轻人开展外展和教育活动。 可用于非本地物种管理的信息将传播给广泛的美国和国际利益相关者。生物学家长期以来一直认为，纬度多样性梯度可能是由热带地区比高纬度地区发生的更强的物种相互作用（例如竞争和捕食）决定的。 先前的研究表明，低纬度地区的捕食压力确实更强，但尚不清楚捕食和竞争的相互作用如何构建群落，以维持生态时期的这些多样性模式。 该项目代表了一项国际研究计划，旨在扩大对跨纬度物种相互作用的生态理解。 目的是确定两个主要物种相互作用、竞争和捕食对物种多样性模式、群落组装和物种入侵敏感性的相对影响。 实地研究将采用大规模实验方法，重点关注纬度 47 度（超过 7000 公里）的固着海洋无脊椎动物群落。 实验将在一年内操纵捕食和竞争水平，并将在从亚北极到热带的四个地区进行：阿拉斯加、加利福尼亚、墨西哥和巴拿马。 由本地和非本地物种组成的固着海洋无脊椎动物群落将在不同的捕食和竞争机制下进行迭代检查，以评估群落动态。 将评估一系列因素（包括环境条件和招募率）对互动结果的相对重要性。