RUI: Collaborative Research: Consequences of Climate-Induced Range Shifts on Multiple Ecosystem Functions

RUI：合作研究：气候引起的范围变化对多种生态系统功能的影响

• 批准号: 1557015
• 负责人: Casey Bradshaw-Wilson
• 金额: $ 38.8万
• 依托单位: Allegheny College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-05-01 至 2022-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1557015&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Collaborative; Research; Consequences; Climate

The healthy functioning of natural ecosystems depends on the interactive roles of the various species that coexist in them. Different but closely related species replace each other along environmental gradients (e.g., from dry to wet). In some cases the new species function similarly, but in others species replacements have major impacts on the ecosystem and the goods and services provided to humans. Around the planet, species distributions are shifting in response to a changing climate, yet little is known about how the shifts will affect ecosystems. One continuous study over the past 25 years of the animals that live in high elevation ponds in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado shows that species are shifting to higher elevations. And at the same elevation animals are moving to different types of ponds (permanent vs. temporary) as the water regime varies. The goal of this new project is to determine how such shifts impact ecosystem function. Training of undergraduate students is a key component of the project and undergraduates will be involved with all aspects of the research. A cross-institutional research experiment will be developed for them, where they can work together to study the impacts of species range shifts from North Carolina to Maine. One graduate student and a postdoctoral associate will also be trained. Finally, the team will continue public outreach at each home institution, as well as at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado where most of the research will be conducted. This project will test how range shifts along environmental gradients in the dominant group of detritivores (caddisfly larvae) will affect multiple ecosystem processes, including the transfer of detrital energy to detritivore secondary production, release of detritus-bound nutrients for algal uptake, bottom-up effects of algae on herbivores, and ecosystem metabolism. Researchers will use models, experiments, and comparative data from whole ponds to investigate the degree to which 1) species replacements along permanence and elevational gradients are functional replacements in terms of detritus processing rates and cascading effects on brown (detrital) and green (algal) trophic paths, 2) the interactive effects of species shifts across the permanence gradient within an elevation and those associated with range shifts across elevations, and 3) how changes in ecosystem processes with community rearrangements scale up to natural ponds. Impacts will be assessed on three components: 1) the amounts of nutrients and energy from dead plant parts that are eaten by animals (detritivory), 2) how much of the consumption is released back into the environment and stimulates the growth of algae, which can then also be eaten, and 3) how new combinations of species affect the overall productivity of the ponds.

自然生态系统的健康运行取决于共存于其中的各种物种的相互作用。不同但密切相关的物种沿着环境梯度(例如，从干燥到潮湿)相互取代。在某些情况下，新物种的功能相似，但在另一些情况下，物种更替对生态系统以及向人类提供的商品和服务有重大影响。在地球上，物种分布正在随着气候的变化而发生变化，但人们对这种变化将如何影响生态系统知之甚少。在过去的25年里，一项对生活在科罗拉多州落基山脉高海拔池塘中的动物的持续研究表明，这些物种正在向更高的海拔转移。在同一海拔，随着水势的变化，动物们正在迁徙到不同类型的池塘(永久池塘和临时池塘)。这个新项目的目标是确定这种变化如何影响生态系统功能。本科生的培养是该项目的关键组成部分，本科生将参与研究的方方面面。将为他们开发一个跨机构的研究实验，在那里他们可以合作研究物种范围从北卡罗来纳州转移到缅因州的影响。一名研究生和一名博士后助理也将接受培训。最后，该团队将继续在每个本土机构以及科罗拉多州的落基山生物实验室进行公开宣传，大部分研究将在那里进行。该项目将测试占优势的有害食肉动物(瓢虫幼虫)的范围沿环境梯度的变化将如何影响多种生态系统过程，包括碎屑能量向有害物质的转移，更多的次生产物，释放碎屑结合的营养物质用于藻类吸收，藻类对食草动物的自下而上的影响，以及生态系统新陈代谢。研究人员将使用模型、实验和来自整个池塘的比较数据来研究：1)根据碎屑处理率和棕色(碎屑)和绿色(藻类)营养路径上的级联效应，沿持久性和海拔梯度的物种替换在多大程度上是功能性替换；2)物种在海拔范围内跨永久性梯度转移的交互影响；以及3)生态系统过程中群落重新安排的变化如何扩大到自然池塘。影响将从三个方面进行评估：1)被动物吃掉的枯死植物部分的营养和能量的数量(有害的)，2)消耗的多少被释放到环境中并刺激藻类的生长，然后藻类也可以被食用，以及3)新的物种组合如何影响池塘的整体生产力。