Ecological forces driving community structure within heterogeneous aquatic landscapes

生态群落的组成各不相同，甚至在附近的地点(如湖泊、溪流)也是不同的。由此产生的一个主要问题是，决定哪些地点存在哪些物种亚群的因素是什么？在生态科学中，寻找自然景观和受干扰景观中物种分布格局的原因是最重要的。物种聚集成群落被认为是当地环境和生物过程的结果，结合了景观属性、空间异质性和空间连通性的影响。这一概念承认，异质景观中的运动和灭绝-殖民动态对群落结构起着重要作用。被分散联系在一起并受其影响的地方社区是命名的元社区。拟议的研究计划将促进我们对调节鱼类物种分布的基本机制以及它们的群落如何在空间和时间上进行调节的理解。我将使用一种混合了现场、实验和模型部分的方法来提供对当地环境、鱼的运动、鱼的特征(例如：游动能力、形态)和景观异质性如何影响鱼类群落组织的理解。了解不同尺度上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。鉴于这些过程对鱼类物种的长期生存和分布至关重要，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，最大限度地保持景观中群落的长期持久性；与入侵物种扩散和本土物种大规模灭绝有关的管理战略。最后，这里开发的研究和方法组合可以很容易地扩展到一组不同的生态系统和栖息地类型以及各种分类群体。

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.