The ecology of plant interactions: Integrating plant behavior, traits, and community assembly

植物相互作用的生态学：整合植物行为、性状和群落组装

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04494
• 负责人: Cahill, James
• 金额: $ 5.76万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=587842
• 关键词: ecology; plant; interactions; Integrating; behavior

Limited resource availability impacts species coexistence, foraging decisions, and the outcome of other ecological processes (e.g. plant-microbe interactions, herbivory, pollination). Ecological and evolutionary biologists have long viewed competition to be a critically important process affecting individuals, populations, and communities. Consequently, competition sits as a central mechanism of many fundamental theories (e.g. natural selection, competitive exclusion, limiting similarity etc.). However, the mechanistic understanding of the competitive process among plants, along with an empirically-driven understanding of competitions consequences for communities, is surprisingly limited. My past and future research program is centered on using an empirical approach to understanding the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of plant interactions, with an emphasis on belowground processes. In this proposal, I focus on three areas: (i) plant competition and community assembly, (ii) plant foraging and behavioural ecology, and (iii) multiple ecological stressors. This work builds upon several recent discoveries, and continues to rely upon my experimental approach to understanding ecological processes. More specifically, over the next five years, I will address four short-term objectives: 1. Test the prediction that the impact of competition impact on community structure and assembly is dependent upon the degree of competitive size-asymmetry (CSA) occurring within the community. 2. Disentangle the relationships among traits, relatedness, and competition. Test whether the framework of competitive tolerance, resistance, and suppression improves general understanding.3. Link patterns in plant behavioral responses to soil nutrients and neighboring roots to observed patterns of habitat occupancy by roots. Develop a non-destructive and image-based methodology to allow for repeated measures of root distributions.4. Integrate the consequences of behavioral shifts in root distributions with plant competition theory potential responses to multiple stressors. Central to this research will be the extensive training of HQP at the undergraduate, MSc & PhD, and PDF levels. The success of my research program is highly dependent upon effective mentorship, helping encourage individuals as they develop as scientists. As evidenced from the publication record and current positions of my previous lab members, I have previously been successful in my training efforts. In intend to carry forward with the HQP training plan I have developed over the last 14 years, while also adapting to changes in scientific culture.Though the research presented in the proposal is drawn from broad conceptual theory, its relevance to issues of concern in Canada and elsewhere is not abstract. My work on plant foraging behaviour, and understanding the factors which influence how plant explore the soil has direct implications for agriculture and crop breeding. Though those aspects will not be funded through the DG program, I anticipate collaborative projects (e.g. CRD) to emerge over the next five years. Similarly, biodiversity conservation is of great national and international interest, and it is routinely being challenged through the introduction of novel species and altered resources. In turn, these have the potential to impact the competitive dynamics of natural systems. Unfortunately, the mechanistic linkages between anthropogenic changes and species loss are less well understood than needed; effective and affordable mitigation and restoration is dependent upon core ecological understanding. Thus, I also anticipate potential for collaborative studies to emerge from the competition-based research outlined here.

有限的资源供应影响物种共存，觅食决策，以及其他生态过程的结果（如植物-微生物相互作用，食草动物，授粉）。生态和进化生物学家长期以来一直认为竞争是影响个人，种群和社区的一个至关重要的过程。 因此，竞争是许多基本理论（例如自然选择、竞争排斥、限制相似性等）的核心机制。然而，植物之间的竞争过程的机械理解，沿着的竞争对社区的后果的理解，是令人惊讶的有限。我过去和未来的研究计划是集中在使用经验的方法来理解植物相互作用的生态和进化的原因和后果，重点是地下过程。在这个建议中，我专注于三个领域：（一）植物竞争和社区大会，（二）植物觅食和行为生态学，（三）多种生态压力。这项工作建立在最近的几个发现，并继续依赖于我的实验方法来理解生态过程。 具体来说，在未来五年内，我将提出四个短期目标：1。测试的预测，竞争对社区结构和组装的影响取决于社区内发生的竞争规模不对称（CSA）的程度。2.理清性状、相关性和竞争之间的关系。测试竞争容忍、抵抗和抑制的框架是否提高了一般理解。将植物对土壤养分和邻近根系的行为反应模式与观察到的根系占据栖息地的模式联系起来。开发一种非破坏性的和基于图像的方法，以允许重复测量根分布。整合根分布的行为变化的后果与植物竞争理论对多种压力的潜在反应。这项研究的核心将是在本科，硕士和博士，和PDF水平的HQP的广泛培训。 我的研究计划的成功高度依赖于有效的指导，帮助鼓励个人，因为他们发展为科学家。 从我以前的实验室成员的出版记录和目前的职位可以证明，我以前在培训方面取得了成功。 为了继续推进我在过去14年中制定的HQP培训计划，同时也适应科学文化的变化，尽管提案中提出的研究来自广泛的概念理论，但它与加拿大和其他地方关注的问题的相关性并不抽象。 我在植物觅食行为方面的工作，以及对影响植物如何探索土壤的因素的理解，对农业和作物育种有着直接的影响。 虽然这些方面不会通过DG计划获得资助，但我预计未来五年将出现合作项目（例如CRD）。 同样，生物多样性的保护也是国家和国际的重大利益所在，但由于引进新物种和改变资源，生物多样性保护经常受到挑战。 反过来，这些都有可能影响自然系统的竞争动态。 不幸的是，人为变化和物种损失之间的机械联系没有得到足够的了解;有效和负担得起的缓解和恢复取决于核心生态理解。 因此，我也预计合作研究的潜力，从这里概述的竞争为基础的研究。