Competition and facilitation in culturally significant herbivores

竞争和促进很难作为两个动物物种之间的直接或间接影响来衡量。因此，与动物生态学中的间接效应相比，人们对促进等间接效应的认识较少。我已经成功地启动了一个研究大型食草动物间接相互作用的项目。继续这个主题，我将考虑竞争效应的一个特定子集(北美海狸和安第斯骆驼维库尼亚觅食行为的依赖密度的变化)和便利效应的一个特定子集(提供驼鹿水生摄食区，河狸在小河流中蓄水，通过建立池塘海岸线便利猎狼，以及牲畜对野生骆驼的影响，这种影响可以减少物种间竞争，提高觅食效率)，这些效应的大小可能会随着水的供应的变化而变化。明尼苏达州旅行者国家公园的一片起伏的湿地和高地森林将比较海狸的分散情况。驼鹿栖息地的利用将在创造这一洪水景观的海狸效应的背景下进行研究。海狸栖息地的利用将与不同的交配系统相匹配，这些交配系统可能会影响海狸的生存、扩散和它们的景观工程能力。通过将今天的湿地分布与过去海狸在旅行者国家公园的殖民信息进行匹配，可以随着时间的推移重建海狸、驼鹿和狼的系统。将在较富裕的湿地觅食区和较干燥、饲草贫乏的地区对维库尼亚的栖息地使用情况进行比较，在那里还将测试牲畜对维库尼亚警惕行为的影响。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加在一起，增加了关于不同质量的栖息地殖民化的文献。厄瓜多尔的研究有助于我们了解不同物种可能共存的原因，包括牲畜、牧民和野生动物，从而为保护文献增添了重要的内容。这两项研究都将对学生进行野生动物调查技术方面的培训，并将提供对生态学的新见解。

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.