Community assembly and function in lake plankton

湖泊浮游生物的群落组装和功能

• 批准号: 229563-2008
• 负责人: Beisner, Beatrix
• 金额: $ 1.78万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2012-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=497580
• 关键词: Community; assembly; function; lake; plankton

The long term goals of my research program are to understand the distribution of, and interactions between, factors that influence community assembly and structure in lake plankton metacommunities. The research focuses on plankton because their structure and assembly are of primary importance for the functioning and services provided by lake ecosystems (e.g. recreational fisheries, water quality, invasive species spread). The first objective of the proposed research is to explore how changes to abiotic factors influence community structure in plankton. Specifically I will examine the role of the stability and type of thermal stratification within lakes. Research in marine systems has long focused on the role of physical mixing in the water column, uncovering its ability to influence the rates of contact and ecological interaction (competition, predation) between plankton individuals and species. I will examine these effects, which have been grossly understudied in lakes, by using a novel large-scale experimental approach to alter the normal pattern of mixing and thermocline formation. The second objective of the proposed research works to furthering our understanding of the mechanisms that drive community assembly in lake plankton by examining functional trait composition across gradients of lakes. Functional trait distributions shed insight into ecological factors affecting community assembly and are likely to be more relevant to community assembly than taxonomy alone. Overall, my research program furthers understanding of how plankton community structure relates to gradients of spatial structure (both within-lake and landscape-level), biotic challenge (invasive species) and biogeochemical factors (e.g. phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon).

我的研究计划的长期目标是了解影响湖泊浮游生物元群落的群落组合和结构的因素的分布和相互作用。这项研究侧重于浮游生物，因为它们的结构和组合对湖泊生态系统的功能和提供的服务(例如休闲渔业、水质、入侵物种扩散)至关重要。这项拟议研究的第一个目标是探索非生物因素的变化如何影响浮游生物的群落结构。具体地说，我将研究湖泊内热力层结的稳定性和类型所起的作用。长期以来，对海洋系统的研究一直侧重于水柱中物理混合的作用，揭示了它影响浮游生物个体和物种之间的接触率和生态相互作用(竞争、捕食)的能力。我将使用一种新的大规模实验方法来改变混合和温跃层形成的正常模式，以检验这些在湖泊中被严重研究不足的影响。拟议研究的第二个目标是通过研究湖泊不同坡度的功能特征组成，进一步了解推动湖泊浮游生物群落聚集的机制。功能性状分布揭示了影响群落集合的生态因素，并且可能比单独的分类学更与群落集合相关。总体而言，我的研究计划加深了对浮游生物群落结构与空间结构梯度(湖内和景观水平)、生物挑战(入侵物种)和生物地球化学因素(如磷、溶解有机碳)的理解。