Collaborative Research: The Roles of Community Assembly and Consumer Impacts in Shaping Ecosystem Function

生态系统提供了重要的服务，如支持生物多样性，为人们提供清洁的水和空气。这些功能是由生活在该生态系统中的动植物驱动的，并由这些物种的特征--它们的“功能特征”--决定。当新物种进入生态系统，或者离开或死亡时，它会改变物种的数量和存在的功能特征的组合，因此生态系统的功能也会改变。了解哪些物种最有可能到来或灭绝，以及它们如何对生态系统做出贡献，可以帮助生态学家预测人类的利益将随着时间的推移而发生变化。这些信息对于预测生态系统将如何应对气候变化等干扰特别重要，并有助于了解我们如何最好地恢复受损的生态系统。该项目将使用精心设计的实验来改变共同生长的草原植物物种的数量和功能特征，并测量这些变化对生态系统功能的影响。然后将这些结果与现实世界草原上的模式进行比较，以测试它们的真实性。在整个项目中，学生、环境保护从业者和公众将参与研究过程。两所合作大学将建立以课程为基础的本科生研究体验；两所大学将为代表不足群体的学生进行网络实地考察；至少将培训9名学生和职业早期研究人员。生态学家努力了解生物多样性变化与生态系统功能之间的关系，已达成共识，即群落的特征多样性影响其功能。生物多样性的变化既包括丰富度的变化，也包括群落集合的变化--群落中物种的非随机增加和减少。该项目将建立一个生物多样性-生态系统功能实验，在该实验中，物种丰富度、组成和功能特征多样性在地块中独立操纵。物种组合将使用恢复的Tallgras草原的经验现场数据进行参数化，以确保实验保持现实性。此外，草食处理将模拟野牛对草原植物的放牧作用。通过这种方式，该项目将使用具有现实群落的试验田来确定物种数量及其组合的变化如何影响生态系统功能，包括地上和地下生物量、树叶凋落物分解和氨吸收。有野牛在场的真实草原恢复中的群落和生态系统测量结果将与实验田获得的结果进行比较，以确定实验结果是否可以用于预测更大空间尺度的动态。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ecosystems provide important services such as supporting biodiversity and providing clean water and air for people. These functions are driven by the plants and animals living in that ecosystem and determined by the characteristics of those species—their “functional traits.” When new species arrive in an ecosystem, or they leave or die off, it changes the number of species and the combination of functional traits present, so ecosystem functions can change as well. Knowing which species are most likely to arrive or die off, and how they contribute to ecosystems, can help ecologists predict how benefits to people will change over time. Such information is especially important for predicting how ecosystems will respond to disturbances like climate change, and for helping to understand how we can best restore damaged ecosystems. This project will use a carefully designed experiment to change the number and functional traits of prairie plant species growing together and measure the effects of these changes on ecosystem functions. Those results will then be compared to patterns in real-world prairies to test their realism. Throughout the project, students, conservation practitioners, and members of the public will engage with the research process. A course-based undergraduate research experience will be created between the two partner universities; networking field trips for students from underrepresented groups will take place at both universities; and at least 9 students and early-career researchers will be trained.Ecologists’ efforts to understand the relationships between variation in biodiversity and ecosystem function have led to a consensus that the trait diversity of communities influences their function. Biodiversity change includes both changes in richness and community assembly – the non-random additions and subtractions of species from communities. The project will establish a biodiversity–ecosystem function experiment in which species richness, composition, and functional trait diversity are independently manipulated in plots. Species combinations will be parameterized using empirical field data from restored tallgrass prairies to ensure the experiment retains realism. Further, herbivory treatments will simulate bison grazing effects on prairie plants. In this way, the project will use experimental plots with realistic communities to determine how variation in the number of species and their assembly affect ecosystem functions, including above- and belowground biomass, leaf litter decomposition, and ammonium uptake. Community and ecosystem measurements in real-world prairie restorations with bison present will then be compared to results obtained from experimental plots to determine if experimental results can be used to predict dynamics at larger spatial scales.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.