DISSERTATION RESEARCH: An Experimental Test of Generalist Foraging Behavior as a Community Stabilization Mechanism

论文研究：通才觅食行为作为群落稳定机制的实验测试

• 批准号: 1702051
• 负责人: Mark Novak
• 金额: $ 1.83万
• 依托单位: Oregon State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2019-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1702051&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Experimental; Test; Generalist

Species can become rare or common for many reasons. Scientists are increasingly interested in how such changes in the abundance of one species can impact other species, particularly those that eat species that become rare. Some scientists think that the rareness of one species leads to the rareness of other species that rely on this species, potentially causing a lot of local extinctions -- perhaps even the collapse of an entire ecosystem. Other scientists disagree. They think that declines in one species can benefit other species if the first species might compete with the second, leading to a stable ecosystem in which there is an overall balance in the number of species that are increasing relative to those that are decreasing. Key to predicting the vulnerability of plants and animals to changes in their environment is figuring out which of these opposing views is most likely. Such understanding will help managers, policy makers and scientists develop strategies to support the diversity of life on earth. The goal of this project is to test how a coastal ecosystem responds to disturbances and, in particular, whether a top predator can adjust to changes in the abundance in its prey.This research uses a predatory whelk on the Oregon coast to examine how different possible foraging strategies of generalist predators influence the stability of rocky intertidal communities. The researchers will use whelks trained on different prey in the laboratory to replicate different methods of generalist foraging in the field (e.g., constant prey preferences and adaptive foraging). The whelks will be exposed to two natural pulse recruitment perturbations in the field. Researchers will use the changes in species densities following the perturbations to determine the resilience and resistance of the communities. This will allow the researchers to examine the role that generalists play in promoting community stability and what forms of generalist foraging are the most likely to stabilize communities. This study will support the training of a graduate and undergraduate students and will provide opportunities for outreach through the development of an exhibit for a science center that explains the concept of food webs and how food webs influence the everyday lives of visitors to the science center.

由于多种原因，物种可能变得罕见或常见。科学家越来越对这种物种的这种变化如何影响其他物种感兴趣，尤其是那些食用罕见物种的物种。 一些科学家认为，一种物种的稀有性会导致其他依赖该物种的物种的稀有性，可能造成许多局部灭绝，甚至可能是整个生态系统的崩溃。 其他科学家不同意。 他们认为，如果第一个物种可能与第二种竞争，那么一种物种的下降会使其他物种受益，这导致一个稳定的生态系统，在这种生态系统中，相对于降低的物种的总体数量增加了。 预测动植物对环境变化的脆弱性的关键是，发现这些相反的观点中的哪一个很可能是。 这种理解将有助于管理者，政策制定者和科学家制定策略来支持地球上生活的多样性。该项目的目的是测试一个沿海生态系统如何应对干扰，尤其是顶级捕食者是否可以适应其猎物的丰度变化。这项研究使用俄勒冈海岸上的掠夺性鞭子来研究一般掠食者的不同可能的觅食策略如何影响洛矶山脉间流动社区的稳定性。研究人员将使用对实验室中不同猎物进行训练的鞭子来复制野外觅食的不同方法（例如，持续的猎物偏好和自适应觅食）。这些木瓜将暴露于该领域的两个自然脉冲募集扰动。 研究人员将利用扰动后物种密度的变化来确定社区的韧性和抵抗力。这将使研究人员能够研究通才在促进社区稳定中所扮演的角色，以及最有可能稳定社区的通才觅食形式。这项研究将支持研究生和本科生的培训，并通过开发一个科学中心的展览来提供宣传的机会，该展览解释了食物网的概念以及食物网如何影响访客对科学中心的日常生活。