Competition and facilitation in culturally significant herbivores

竞争和促进是难以衡量的直接或间接影响两个动物物种之间。因此，像促进作用这样的间接影响不像在动物生态学中那样受到重视。我已经成功地启动了一个研究项目，研究大型食草动物之间的间接相互作用。继续这个主题，我将考虑竞争效应的一个特定子集（北美海狸和vicuña，一种安第斯骆驼的觅食行为的密度依赖变化）和促进效应的一个特定子集(提供驼鹿水生觅食区，海狸在小溪中蓄水，通过创建池塘海岸线促进狼的狩猎，牲畜对野生骆驼的影响（减少种间竞争，提高觅食效率）可能随着水分供应的变化而变化。在明尼苏达州旅行者国家公园的起伏湿地和高地森林中，将比较海狸的分散情况。驼鹿栖息地的利用将在海狸对形成这一淹没景观的影响的背景下进行研究。海狸的栖息地使用将与不同的交配系统相匹配，这可能会影响它们的生存、扩散和景观“工程”能力。通过将今天的湿地分布与航海者国家公园过去海狸殖民的公布信息相匹配，可以重建海狸、驼鹿和狼的系统。将对vicuñas的栖息地利用情况与丰富的湿地觅食区和干燥的缺乏觅食区进行比较，在那里也将测试vicuñas中牲畜对警惕行为的影响。这项以厄瓜多尔为基础的研究可能会确定在雨季和旱季不同的促进作用。明尼苏达州和厄瓜多尔的研究共同增加了关于不同质量栖息地的殖民化的文献。厄瓜多尔的研究有助于我们如何理解不同物种可能共存，包括牲畜、牧民和野生动物，以这种方式为保护文献增添了重要内容。这两项研究都将训练学生的野生动物调查技术，并将为生态学提供新的见解。

Competition and facilitation are difficult to measure as direct or indirect effects between two animal species. Indirect effects like facilitation are as a result less appreciated than they might be in animal ecology. I have been successful in launching a program of study that considers indirect interactions in large herbivores. Continuing in this theme, I will consider a specific subset of competitive effects (density dependent changes in foraging behaviour in the North American beaver and in the vicuña, an Andean camelid) and a specific subset of facilitation effects (provision of moose aquatic feeding areas with beaver impoundment of small streams, facilitation of wolf hunting by creation of pond shorelines, and livestock effects on wild camelids that reduce interspecific competition and increase foraging efficiency) that might vary in size with variation in water availability. Dispersal of beavers will be compared across a landscape of undulating wetlands and upland forest in Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota. Habitat use in moose will be studied in the context of beaver effects in creating this flooded landscape. Habitat use in beavers will be matched to varying mating systems that may affect survival, dispersal and their landscape 'engineering' ability. The beaver, moose and wolf system can be reconstructed through time by matching wetland distribution today to published information on past beaver colonization of Voyageurs National Park. Habitat use in vicuñas will be compared in richer, wetland foraging areas and in dryer, forage-poor areas, where the effect of livestock on vigilance behaviour in vicuñas will also be tested. This Ecuador-based study will likely identify facilitation that varies in rainy and dry seasons. Together, the Minnesota and the Ecuador studies add to the literature on colonization of habitats of variable quality. The Ecuador study contributes to how we understand different species may co-exist, including livestock, herders and wildlife, in this way adding importantly to conservation literature. Both studies will train students in wildlife investigation techniques and will offer new insights in ecology.