Formation of the global Mixed Species Working Group: Fostering integrative approaches to understanding mixed-species groups

成立全球混合物种工作组：促进理解混合物种群体的综合方法

• 批准号: 1640489
• 负责人: Kathryn Sieving
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 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: 2016-09-15 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1640489&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Formation; global; Mixed; Species; Working

Many animals, including fish, birds and monkeys, travel and feed together with different species. Although these groups are common, the scientists who study them tend not to work with each other. Those who study bird flocks, for example, are generally unaware of those who study fish schools. This specialization among animal biologists limits our understanding of how and why animal groups form. This award will enable the Principal Investigators to convene a workshop to establish a Mixed Species Working Group, which will be comprised of experts who study a wide variety of animals. Over two days of presentations, team-building, facilitated discussions, and planning sessions, the Working Group will design a web portal for public interaction and education, and produce educational materials targeted for scientists, conservation groups, and park managers. Culturally diverse participants hail from North America, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, China, Latin America, and the European Union, and include junior and senior researchers as well as graduate and undergraduate students. The workshop on mixed-species animal groups, convened at Ecosummit 2016 in Montpellier, France, represents the largest meeting ever held on such groups. The Working Group will pursue two major goals in discussions, publications, and broader impact activities: (1) To develop a unifying theory of mixed-species groups, accomplished through analysis of emergent social roles that drive the formation and maintenance of all mixed species groups (e.g., protectors, sentinels, and beaters). In collaborative data sharing and analysis, the Working Group will test the hypothesis that there are necessary and sufficient social roles of participating species for mixed species groups to persist. Empirical data from across biomes and taxa will be used to identify functional umbrella species in different ecosystems. (2) To understand how stressors, especially human-induced perturbations, may weaken or strengthen key social roles and coherence of group function in degraded environs. This understanding will help scientists develop conservation strategies for sensitive species. Because mixed species groups are a popular study system across many disciplines of animal ecology, an important outcome of the Working Group is that its members' professional activities and affiliations will significantly degrade traditional barriers between taxon-specific scientific cliques in community ecology and biodiversity conservation. The workshop is partially supported by NSF's Office of Science and Engineering.

许多动物，包括鱼、鸟和猴子，都和不同的物种一起旅行和觅食。虽然这些群体很常见，但研究它们的科学家往往不会相互合作。例如，那些研究鸟群的人通常不知道那些研究鱼群的人。动物生物学家的这种专业化限制了我们对动物群体形成的方式和原因的理解。这项奖励将使首席研究人员能够召开研讨会，建立一个混合物种工作组，该工作组将由研究各种动物的专家组成。在两天的演讲、团队建设、促进讨论和规划会议中，工作组将设计一个公众互动和教育的门户网站，并制作针对科学家、保护团体和公园管理人员的教育材料。参与者来自北美、印度尼西亚、斯里兰卡、印度、中国、拉丁美洲和欧盟，文化各异，包括初级和高级研究人员以及研究生和本科生。在法国蒙彼利埃举行的2016年生态峰会上，关于混合物种动物群体的研讨会是有史以来规模最大的关于这类群体的会议。工作组将在讨论、出版和更广泛的影响活动中追求两个主要目标：(1)通过分析驱动所有混合物种群体形成和维持的新兴社会角色（例如保护者、哨兵和殴打者），建立一个混合物种群体的统一理论。在协作数据共享和分析中，工作组将验证这样一个假设：参与物种的社会角色对于混合物种群体的持续存在是必要和充分的。来自不同生物群系和分类群的经验数据将用于识别不同生态系统中的功能伞物种。(2)了解压力源，特别是人为干扰，如何削弱或加强退化环境中关键的社会角色和群体功能的一致性。这种理解将有助于科学家制定敏感物种的保护策略。由于混合物种群是动物生态学许多学科的热门研究系统，因此工作组的一个重要成果是其成员的专业活动和隶属关系将显著降低群落生态学和生物多样性保护中分类单元特定科学集团之间的传统障碍。该研讨会得到了NSF科学与工程办公室的部分支持。