COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Integrating the core-satellite and resource-breadth hypotheses in small mammal communities: field tests of a macroecological pattern

合作研究：将核心卫星和资源广度假设整合到小型哺乳动物群落中：宏观生态模式的现场测试

• 批准号: 1930763
• 负责人: Jacob Goheen
• 金额: $ 14.98万
• 依托单位: University of Wyoming
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-02-15 至 2021-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1930763&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Integrating; core; satellite

Have you ever wondered why some animals (like squirrels, raccoons, and crows) are common and seem to be found everywhere, while others are rare and occur only in a few places? Ecologists have asked this question too, and they have been working on this puzzle for over a century. The answer could depend on the variety of foods that animals can eat, the ability of animals to move long distances, or both. On the one hand, animals that can thrive on a range of different foods, what ecologists sometimes call generalists, should be common and widespread, while picky eaters should be rare and found only in a few places. On the other hand, animals that can quickly move into areas from which they have disappeared should also be common and widespread, while animals that stay put should be rare and found in only a few places. Like many answers in ecology, it's probably some of both. The researchers on this project are working to discover how diet and movement ability shape where animals live and how many individuals live in a particular area. Results of this research project could be useful in understanding why some species (like endangered species) are rare and slow to recover following legal protections, while other species (like native pests or invasive species) are common, even in the face of human development. Through this project, the researchers will train two graduate students, a project manager, and four research assistants, and will use the existing infrastructure of a long-term experiment around which to center undergraduate field courses at their respective institutions. Positive correlations between a species' abundance and its range size are among the most general patterns in ecology. Two particularly compelling hypotheses, Hanski's Core-Satellite hypothesis and Brown's Resource-Breadth hypothesis, have been proposed to explain this pattern. The Core-Satellite hypothesis posits that differential rates of movement underlie abundance-distribution relationships, such that widespread species are buffered against local extinction by dispersal from the surrounding region. In contrast, the Resource-Breath hypothesis invokes differences in the ability of species to exploit a range of resources: abundant, widespread species should be ecological generalists capable of exploiting a wider variety of resources than rare, geographically restricted species (i.e., ecological specialists). For all of their intuitive appeal, however, support for the central, contrasting predictions of each hypothesis, that new individuals at a locality should arise mostly from dispersal (Core-Satellite hypothesis) versus in situ reproduction (Resource-Breadth hypothesis), has been scant. The researchers will integrate consumer-resource interactions with estimates of dispersal and in situ recruitment in a guild of herbivorous small mammals (rodents, shrews, elephant shrews). Two manipulations, the erection of dispersal barriers and a resource removal, will be established within a pre-existing, long-term experiment. Under this award, the researchers will determine whether abundant, widespread species maintain their extensive distributions through higher rates of dispersal, in situ recruitment, or both.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

你有没有想过为什么有些动物（如松鼠，浣熊和乌鸦）是常见的，似乎无处不在，而另一些是罕见的，只发生在少数地方？生态学家也提出了这个问题，他们已经为这个难题工作了世纪。答案可能取决于动物能吃的食物的种类，动物长距离移动的能力，或者两者兼而有之。一方面，能够在一系列不同食物上茁壮成长的动物，生态学家有时称之为多面手，应该是常见的和广泛的，而挑食者应该是罕见的，只在少数地方发现。另一方面，能够迅速移动到它们已经消失的地区的动物也应该是常见和广泛的，而留在原地的动物应该是罕见的，只在少数地方发现。就像生态学中的许多答案一样，可能两者都有。该项目的研究人员正在努力探索饮食和运动能力如何塑造动物的生活环境，以及有多少人生活在一个特定的区域。这个研究项目的结果可能有助于理解为什么有些物种（如濒危物种）是罕见的，在法律的保护后恢复缓慢，而其他物种（如本地害虫或入侵物种）是常见的，即使在人类发展的面前。通过这个项目，研究人员将培训两名研究生，一名项目经理和四名研究助理，并将利用现有的长期实验基础设施，围绕该基础设施在各自机构开展本科生实地课程。一个物种的丰度与其分布区大小之间的正相关是生态学中最普遍的模式之一。两个特别引人注目的假说，汉斯基的核心卫星假说和布朗的资源宽度假说，已被提出来解释这一模式。核心-卫星假说假定，丰度-分布关系的基础是不同的移动速率，这样，广泛分布的物种通过从周围地区扩散来缓冲局部灭绝。相比之下，资源呼吸假说援引了物种利用一系列资源的能力的差异：丰富的，广泛的物种应该是生态通才，能够利用比稀有的，地理限制的物种更广泛的资源（即，生态专家）。然而，尽管它们具有直观的吸引力，但对每一种假设的核心、对比预测的支持却很少，即一个地方的新个体应该主要来自扩散（核心-卫星假设）而不是原地繁殖（资源-广度假设）。研究人员将把消费者-资源相互作用与草食性小型哺乳动物（啮齿动物、鼩、象鼩）的分布和原位招募估计相结合。两个操作，架设分散障碍和资源的去除，将建立在一个预先存在的，长期的实验。根据该奖项，研究人员将确定丰富的，广泛的物种是否通过更高的扩散率，就地补充，或两者兼而有之，保持其广泛的分布。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。