SG: Demographic drivers of plant community response to fire: Re-evaluating the relative importance of survival vs. reproduction

SG：植物群落对火灾反应的人口驱动因素：重新评估生存与繁殖的相对重要性

基本信息

批准号：
2032282
负责人：
Stuart Wagenius
金额：
$ 21.53万
依托单位：
Chicago Horticultural Society
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2021-01-01 至 2023-10-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2032282&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
SG Demographic drivers plant community

项目摘要

Before European-American settlement in the 1800s, the vast grasslands of North America burned every 2-5 years. These frequent fires maintained grassland habitat and contributed to the diversity of birds, mammals, insects, and plants found in prairies today. Widespread habitat loss and the elimination of fire are causing native plant populations to decline in the few prairie patches that remain. The loss of native plant diversity has motivated many Americans to take action. People, businesses, and agencies of local, state, and the federal government conduct prescribed burns to improve habitat and promote prairie plant diversity. Understanding why native prairie plants thrive with fire is essential for achieving these management goals. In addition to sharing results that will advance the fundamental scientific knowledge about fires and plant populations, the researchers will share practical information with land managers, conservation practitioners, policy-makers, and the public to help them make better decisions about how frequently to burn prairies to achieve their management goals. In addition to disseminating scientific results and recommendations, this project will provide research experience and training to a postdoctoral researcher and two college students, as well as opportunities for engagement by high-school students, secondary-school science teachers, and conservation research volunteers in Minnesota and at the Chicago Botanic Garden.This research project will investigate how fire maintains healthy populations of native perennial plants in western Minnesota. Scientists have two main hypotheses about fire: on one hand, fires may help native plants compete and survive; on the other hand, fires may help plants flower, get pollinated, and produce seeds. Evidence exists for both hypotheses and both survival and reproduction are necessary to maintain a population, but how much fire influences each process remains an open scientific question. The researchers will test the hypothesis that the reproductive benefits of synchronized flowering after fire help promote population growth and forestall local extinctions. They will randomly assign burn treatments in 30 prairies, where they will 1) examine the effects of fire on pollination and reproduction in previously-studied populations of a purple coneflower, Echinacea angustifolia, 2) conduct a seed addition experiment to characterize the influence of fire on seed germination and seedling survival, 3) develop models to quantify effects of fire on Echinacea population growth, and 4) estimate fire effects on mating and reproduction in three other widespread prairie species.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.

在1800年代欧美定居点之前，北美广大的草原每2 - 5年燃烧。这些频繁的火灾维持草地栖息地，并导致了当今大草原中发现的鸟类，哺乳动物，昆虫和植物的多样性。广泛的栖息地丧失和消除火正在导致本地植物种群在剩下的少数草原斑块中下降。本地植物多样性的丧失促使许多美国人采取行动。地方，州和联邦政府的人，企业和机构规定了烧伤，以改善栖息地并促进草原植物的多样性。了解为什么土著草原植物随火而蓬勃发展对于实现这些管理目标至关重要。除了分享将提高有关火灾和植物种群的基本科学知识的结果外，研究人员还将与土地管理者，保护从业人员，决策者和公众共享实用信息，以帮助他们更好地决定燃烧大草原以实现其管理目标的频率。除了传播科学的结果和建议外，该项目还将为博士后研究员和两名大学生提供研究经验和培训，以及高中生，二级学校科学老师的互动机会，以及在明尼苏达州和明尼苏达州的保护研究志愿者，以及在芝加哥植物园的研究项目。科学家有两个关于火的主要假设：一方面，大火可以帮助本地植物竞争并生存。另一方面，火可能有助于植物开花，授粉并产生种子。有证据表明假设以及生存和繁殖都需要维持人口，但是对每个过程的火灾影响程度仍然是一个开放的科学问题。研究人员将检验以下假设：火灾后同步开花的生殖益处有助于促进人口的增长和阻止局部灭绝。他们将随机分配30个大草原中的烧伤处理，其中1）检查火灾对紫色圆锥花的授粉和繁殖的影响，紫色锥虫，赤道式eChinacea angustifolia，2）进行种子添加实验，以表征火对火的影响和幼虫的影响，以量化火灾的影响，以量化生长，3）量化对echinace的影响，3）4）该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估而被认为值得支持的。