Unravelling the extent and impacts of plant invasion in the last pristine landscapes of Europe: the role of species interactions

揭示欧洲最后的原始景观中植物入侵的程度和影响：物种相互作用的作用

• 批准号: 2744481
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2744481
• 关键词: Unravelling; extent; impacts; plant; invasion

Biological invasions of anthropogenic origin pose significantthreats to biodiversity. Studies on their drivers and impactshave grown exponentially in the past 30 years, yet most ofthese tend to focus on a single set of invaders and a limitednumber of drivers. Moreover, mountain regions remainunderstudied despite the establishment of multiple invasivespecies at increasingly higher elevations under risinganthropogenic pressures and climate change. Surprisingly,we still know very little about how climate change, humandisturbance, and interspecific biotic interactions mediatemultiple invasions and their effects on native communities.In particular, co-occurring invaders may facilitate spread,eventually leading to "invasion meltdown".Novelty and timelinessA long-term monitoring project was recently established inthe Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains to meet this challenge.This highly biodiverse region is home to the mostsignificant remaining old-growth and virgin forest in Europe.Unfortunately, the region is also experiencing increasedlevels of invasion by alien species, flooding disturbance isincreasing under climate change, and growing humanactivity is altering habitats. Despite these multiplepressures, the spatiotemporal drivers and biodiversityimplications of the ongoing spread of multiple species intoprotected areas remain largely unknown.ObjectivesWe aim to answer two main research questions: How doabiotic factors locally determine the multiple-invasionsuccess and its effect on native species? How do bioticinteractions between invasive and native species impede orfacilitate invasion dynamics? This PhD will address thesequestions by combining field studies in the CarpathianMountains with cutting edge population modellingtechniques. The student will be embedded within a largermonitoring project, offering an opportunity to pursuealternative lines of research as their interests develop.

人类活动引起的生物入侵对生物多样性构成严重威胁。在过去的30年里，关于它们的驱动因素和影响的研究呈指数级增长，但大多数研究往往集中在一组入侵者和有限数量的驱动因素上。此外，尽管在不断上升的人为压力和气候变化下，在海拔越来越高的地方建立了多种入侵物种，但山区的研究仍然不足。令人惊讶的是，我们仍然对气候变化、人类干扰和种间生物相互作用如何介导多重入侵及其对原生群落的影响知之甚少。特别是，共同发生的入侵者可能促进传播，最终导致“入侵熔毁”。新奇和及时性一个长期的-最近在乌克兰喀尔巴阡山脉建立了一个长期监测项目，以应对这一挑战。不幸的是，该地区也正在经历外来物种入侵的增加，气候变化导致洪水干扰增加，人类活动不断增加正在改变栖息地。尽管这些multiplepressures，时空驱动程序和biodiversityimplications的持续蔓延的多个物种into保护areas仍然在很大程度上unknown.ObjectivesWe旨在回答两个主要的研究问题：如何doabiotic因素本地确定的multipleinvasionsuccess和其对本地物种的影响？入侵物种和本地物种之间的生物相互作用是如何阻碍或促进入侵动力学的？这个博士学位将通过结合喀尔巴阡山脉的实地研究和尖端的人口建模技术来解决这些问题。学生将被嵌入到一个更大的监测项目中，随着他们的兴趣发展，提供了一个追求替代研究路线的机会。