An integrative approach to reveal community responses to multiple stressors

揭示社区对多种压力源的反应的综合方法

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-04856
• 负责人: Vinebrooke, Rolf
• 金额: $ 3.42万
• 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: 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=717287
• 关键词: integrative; approach; reveal; community; responses

Global decline in biodiversity is estimated to involve a several-fold greater loss of species than before the onset of human pressures, being most pronounced in freshwater ecosystems. Here, ecologists are often surprised by the cumulative impacts of these novel and extreme anthropogenic environmental changes, or "stressors," especially when their combined effect does not equal the sum of their known individual effects. While much research has focused on the properties of the stressors and their interactions to explain such non-additive effects, relative little consideration has been given to how the affected species themselves and their interactions may mediate community responses and ecosystem processes (e.g., primary production). Consequently, there does not exist a well-developed conceptual framework in community ecology upon which empirical investigations can be built to examine the net effects of multiple stressors. Here, I focus on empirically upgrading the often cited Species Co-tolerance Concept (SCC) to advance it as a tool for revealing the nature of community responses to multiple stressors from a mainly freshwater perspective. The primary tenet of the SCC is that the correlation of species tolerances of various stressors determines their combined impact on community-level properties (e.g., species richness, total production); however, it has remained in need of hypothesis-testing and further refinement. Our recent discoveries point to the SCC requiring an improved species-based null model, and also better integration of species interactions and their traits to make it more predictive and mechanistically insightful. Over the next five years, my short term objectives involve determining how integration of these factors into the SCC affect its potential for groundbreaking predictions and understanding of community responses to simultaneous or sequential exposures to stressors. Extensive training of HQP is at the core to the success of my research program. I personally mentor and assist HQP in their design and start of field and lab studies, subsequent quantitative analyses, and communication of their findings. I take a comprehensive approach to training HQP in standard to novel and advanced algal and invertebrate taxonomic techniques, developing skill sets that are increasingly in demand yet short in supply in the environmental sector. I also foster active transfer of skills in my lab to develop mentorship in senior lab members, while also strongly encouraging a highly collaborative and diverse lab environment. I am particularly excited that our findings will lead to textbook-changing advances in community ecology by placing it more in a global change context while also addressing the need for better environmental risk assessment of the cumulative ecological impacts of multiple stressors.

据估计，全球生物多样性的下降导致物种损失比人类压力出现之前多几倍，其中在淡水生态系统中最为明显。在这里，生态学家常常对这些新颖和极端的人为环境变化或“压力源”的累积影响感到惊讶，特别是当它们的综合影响不等于已知的单独影响的总和时。虽然许多研究都集中在压力源的特性及其相互作用来解释这种非加性效应，但相对较少考虑受影响物种本身及其相互作用如何调节群落反应和生态系统过程（例如初级生产）。因此，群落生态学中不存在一个完善的概念框架，可以在此基础上进行实证研究来检验多种压力源的净效应。 在这里，我重点从经验上升级经常被引用的物种共同耐受概念（SCC），以将其作为一种工具，从主要淡水的角度揭示群落对多种压力源的反应的本质。 SCC的主要原则是，各种压力源的物种耐受性的相关性决定了它们对群落水平特性（例如物种丰富度、总产量）的综合影响；然而，它仍然需要假设检验和进一步完善。我们最近的发现表明，SCC 需要改进的基于物种的零模型，并且还需要更好地整合物种相互作用及其特征，以使其更具预测性和机制洞察力。在接下来的五年中，我的短期目标包括确定将这些因素整合到 SCC 中如何影响其突破性预测的潜力以及对社区对同时或连续暴露于压力源的反应的理解。 HQP 的广泛培训是我的研究项目成功的核心。我亲自指导和协助 HQP 设计、开始现场和实验室研究、随后的定量分析以及交流他们的发现。我采取全面的方法对 HQP 进行标准到新颖和先进的藻类和无脊椎动物分类技术的培训，开发环境领域需求日益增长但供应短缺的技能组合。我还在实验室中积极促进技能转移，以培养高级实验室成员的指导，同时大力鼓励高度协作和多样化的实验室环境。我特别兴奋的是，我们的研究结果将通过将社区生态学更多地置于全球变化的背景下，从而带来改变教科书的进步，同时解决对多种压力源的累积生态影响进行更好的环境风险评估的需要。