Ecology in spatially and temporally structured environments

生物有机体及其栖息地在空间和时间上各不相同。解开自然界复杂的时空模式所涉及的机制是生态学中最重要的智力挑战之一。我们在了解社区结构方面取得了显著进展，但仍存在重大差距和相关挑战。空间和时间环境异质性(资源或非资源)被广泛认为是生态群落结构的基础机制。到目前为止，对空间和时间异质性的研究几乎完全集中在方差(多少)分量上。然而，类似水平的环境变化在空间(发生变化的地方)和时间(发生变化的时候)的结构往往不同，可能会影响物种的分布及其共存方式。关于环境的时空结构成分(即协方差或自相关)对多种物种的分布和共存的动态和格局的重要性的研究工作有限。 环境因素的结构成分可以直接等同于这些因素在时间和空间上变化的突然、剧烈或平稳程度。由于物种对其环境的时空变化(如扩散和生活史差异)的反应和处理能力的不同，物种的分布和共存受到其景观中的环境在空间和时间上的变化和共同变化的影响。我的研究计划试图回答关于环境的时空结构如何影响物种共存模式的新的和基本的问题。这一系列研究还有可能：1)改进生态学家对待固有的时间和空间环境异质性的方式，这种异质性通常被视为群落分析中的麻烦；2)确定即将发生的气候在空间和时间上的异质性的预测变化可能如何影响未来的物种分布和群落。 这项研究计划将结合大规模和小规模的调查，以及实验和定量的方法，量化环境中的时空结构模式如何影响群落结构和物种共存的模式。我的研究团队将致力于各种分类群(鸟类、鱼类和哺乳动物)，因为它们的生态差异将使我们能够对比它们对环境异质性的反应。拟议的研究将为学生提供一个培训环境，通过基于实地的、实验的、定量的和理论的方法，建立将概念生态学和经验生态学联系起来的高度可转移的技能。这项研究也将与我们正在与政府和工业合作伙伴就气候变化和生态系统服务进行的研究相关。

Living organisms and their habitats vary across space and time. Unraveling the mechanisms involved in complex spatial and temporal patterns in nature is one of the most important intellectual challenges in the science of ecology. Remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of how communities are structured, yet major gaps and related challenges remain. Spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity (resource or non-resource) is widely recognized as a mechanism underlying the structure of ecological communities. To date, work on spatial and temporal heterogeneity has almost exclusively focused on the variance (how much) component. However, similar levels of environmental variation are often structured differently in space (where variation occurs) and time (when variation occurs), likely affecting species distributions and the ways they coexist. There has been limited work on the importance of the spatial and temporal structural components (i.e., covariance or autocorrelation) of environments on the dynamics and patterns of distribution and coexistence of multiple species. The structural components of environmental factors can be directly equated to how abruptly, sharply or smoothly these factors change in time and space. Because species vary in their responses to and abilities to handle spatial and temporal variation in their environments (e.g. dispersal and life history differences), species distributions and their coexistence are affected by how the environments in their landscapes vary and co-vary in space and time. My research program seeks to answer novel and fundamental questions about how the spatial and temporal structure of the environment influences patterns of species coexistence. This line of research also has the potential to i) improve the way ecologists treat inherent temporal and spatial environmental heterogeneity, commonly treated as a nuisance in community analyses; and ii) determine how upcoming predicted changes in climatic heterogeneity in space and time may affect species distributions and communities in the future. This research program will combine large- and small-scale surveys, and experimental and quantitative approaches to quantify how patterns of spatial and temporal structure in the environment affect patterns of community structure and species co-existence. My research team will work on various taxa (birds, fish and mammals) as their ecological differences will allow us to contrast their responses to environmental heterogeneity. The proposed research will provide students with a training environment that builds highly transferable skills in linking conceptual and empirical ecology through field-based, experimental, quantitative and theoretical approaches. This research will also have relevance for our ongoing research with government and industrial partners on climate change and ecosystem services.