Ecological forces driving community structure within heterogeneous aquatic landscapes

生态群落的组成各不相同，即使在附近的地点也不同（例如，湖泊、溪流）。 由此产生的一个主要问题是，哪些因素决定了哪些物种亚群存在于哪些地点？ 自然景观和扰动景观中物种分布格局的成因研究是生态科学的重要内容。群落中物种的聚集是当地环境和生物过程的结果，并结合了景观特征、空间异质性和空间连通性的影响。 这一概念承认，运动和迁移殖民动态异质景观结构社区中发挥了重要作用。受分散性影响并相互联系的地方社区被称为元聚居区。拟议的研究计划将促进我们对鱼类物种分布调节的基本机制以及它们的群落在空间和时间上是如何调节的理解。我将使用一种方法，混合现场，实验和建模组件，以提供当地环境，鱼类运动，鱼类特征（例如：游泳能力，形态）和景观异质性影响鱼类群落的组织。了解不同规模的群落对于改善生态系统管理至关重要，因为干扰往往会导致整个景观的级联效应。 即使一些当地社区受到直接影响，我们也需要估计对其他相关社区的长期影响。鉴于这些过程是鱼类物种长期生存和分布的核心，这项研究将产生知识和工具，以解决科学和紧迫的保护问题，包括：了解当前和未来的生态条件，最大限度地提高景观的长期社区持久性;和管理策略有关的入侵物种的传播和本地物种的大规模保护。 最后，这里开发的方法的研究和组合可以很容易地扩展到不同的生态系统和栖息地类型以及各种分类组。

Ecological communities vary in composition such that they are different even in nearby sites (ex., lakes, streams). One major question that arises is what are the factors that determine which subsets of species exist in which sites? The search for causes of patterns of species distributions in natural and disturbed landscapes is of primary importance in ecological sciences. The assemblage of species into communities is considered as the result of local environmental and biotic processes, combined with the effects of landscape attributes, spatial heterogeneity and spatial connectivity. This notion acknowledges that movement and extinction-colonization dynamics across heterogenous landscape play an important role structuring communities. Local communities that are linked and influenced by dispersion are denominated metacommunities. The proposed research program will advance our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms regulating fish species distributions and how their communities are regulated in space and time. I will use an approach that mixes field, experimental and modelling components to provide an understanding of how local environment, fish movement, fish characteristics (ex.: swimming ability, morphology) and landscape heterogeneity influence the organization of fish communities. Understanding of communities at various scales is crucial to improve ecosystem management as disturbances often result in cascading effects across the landscape. Even if a few local communities are directly affected, we need to estimate the long-term impacts on other linked communities. Given that these processes are central for the long-term survival and distribution of fish species, this research will generate knowledge and tools to address both scientific and pressing conservation issues including: understanding current and future ecological conditions that maximize long-term community persistence on landscapes; and management strategies related to the spread of invasive species and large-scale extinctions of native species. Finally, the research and combination of approaches developed here can be readily expanded to a diverse set of ecosystem and habitat types as well as various taxonomic groups.