Ecosystem functioning in the landscape: a meta-ecosystem perspective

景观中的生态系统功能：元生态系统视角

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04077
• 负责人: Harvey, Eric
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: Université de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=714589
• 关键词: Ecosystem; functioning; landscape; meta; ecosystem

The past half-century has seen significant advances in our understanding of the spatial distribution of biodiversity. The meta-population and meta-community concepts cemented our appreciation of the importance of regional dynamics and our understanding of population persistence and species co-existence in the landscape. The next conceptual boundary, the meta-ecosystem concept, promises to unveil the mechanistic links between community and ecosystem ecology. At the intersection between those two fields lays the key to a landscape perspective on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, we are still lacking a comprehensive understanding of the community level constraints on ecosystem response to cross-ecosystem subsidy and spatial cascades. My long-term objectives are to develop a better understanding of the connections within and among ecosystems, to predict how and when perturbations are most likely to propagate via those spatial couplings, and eventually to predict biodiversity distribution and ecosystem functioning at landscape scales. My specific objectives in this proposal are to: 1) develop a better understanding of the contingencies driving the response of recipient ecosystems to cross-ecosystem subsidy; 2) develop a formal test of the spatial cascade concept; 3) extend the spatial cascade concept to develop and test a landscape perspective on cross-ecosystem subsidy. My working hypotheses are that a) biotic interactions will impose predictable constraints on the response of recipient ecosystem to cross-ecosystem subsidy and b) that both biotic interactions and landscape configuration, in turn, will modulate how effects propagate in the landscape (spatial cascade). To reach my objectives I will use a variety of experimental approaches coupled with field observations. In Project 1 I will use zooplankton mesocosms to disentangle the effect of varying cross-ecosystem subsidy (quantity, quality) on the recipient ecosystem along a gradient of community alteration. I will also quantify those natural variations in subsidy and their effects in temperate lakes across a whole landscape. In project 2 I will set a formal test of the spatial cascade concept by testing the effect of harvesting and increased temperature in the donor ecosystem on the dynamics and processes in the recipient ecosystem, using zooplankton mesocosms. I will also quantify spatial cascades at the terrestrial-aquatic boundary using temporal observational data. In project 3, I will use experimental landscapes with microbial microcosms to test the extent to which landscape structure can constraint spatial cascades by limiting the zone of influence of subsidized consumers. The proposed research program will participate in developing a landscape scale understanding of how perturbations can spatially cascade, how recipient ecosystem might respond to those changes and eventually help to predict spatial variations in biodiversity and ecosystem function.

在过去的半个世纪里，我们在了解生物多样性的空间分布方面取得了重大进展。元种群和元群落的概念巩固了我们对区域动态的重要性的认识，以及我们对种群持久性和物种在景观中共存的理解。下一个概念边界，元生态系统概念，有望揭示群落和生态系统生态之间的机械联系。在这两个领域的交汇点上，是从景观角度看待生物多样性和生态系统功能的关键所在。然而，我们仍然缺乏对社区层面对生态系统对跨生态系统补贴和空间级联反应的制约的全面了解。我的长期目标是更好地了解生态系统内部和之间的联系，预测扰动最有可能如何以及何时通过这些空间耦合传播，并最终预测生物多样性分布和生态系统在景观尺度上的功能。我在这项建议中的具体目标是：1)更好地了解推动受援生态系统对跨生态系统补贴反应的偶然性；2)对空间级联概念进行正式测试；3)扩展空间级联概念，以开发和测试关于跨生态系统补贴的景观视角。我的工作假设是，a)生物相互作用将对受援国生态系统对跨生态系统补贴的反应施加可预测的限制，以及b)生物相互作用和景观配置反过来将调节影响如何在景观中传播(空间级联)。 为了达到我的目标，我将使用各种实验方法，并结合实地观察。在项目1中，我将使用浮游动物中隔生态系统来研究不同的跨生态系统补贴(数量、质量)对接受者生态系统的影响，并沿着群落变化的梯度进行。我还将量化补贴的自然变化及其在整个温带湖泊中的影响。在项目2中，我将利用浮游动物中的生态系统，通过测试捐赠者生态系统中收获和温度升高对受赠者生态系统中的动态和过程的影响，对空间级联概念进行正式测试。我还将使用时间观测数据来量化陆地-水域边界的空间级联。在项目3中，我将使用微生物微观世界的实验景观来测试景观结构通过限制受补贴消费者的影响区域来约束空间级联的程度。拟议的研究计划将参与开发景观尺度的理解，了解扰动如何在空间上级联，接受者生态系统如何对这些变化做出反应，并最终帮助预测生物多样性和生态系统功能的空间变化。