To everything a season: bioenergetics in seasonal environments

季节性是一个年度周期，由光周期的波浪式变化组成--先短后长，再短--和温度--冷，然后暖和，再冷。季节对植物、动物和人类都很重要，因为光、雪、资源和温度对生物体的功能和相互作用有根本的影响。但研究往往只在一年周期的一小部分进行，而且大多数生态和进化理论忽视了季节和季节性。我们使用实验室、野外和模拟相结合的方法来确定动物能量学(动物从环境中获取和同化能量，并在维持、生长和繁殖之间分配同化能量的过程)的生态和进化后果。我们的研究独一无二地能够获得自由放养野生动物的能量可获得性、获取和支出的综合衡量标准，并将这些生物能量学措施嵌入到明确的生活史和生态背景中。我的发现资助研究计划的长期目标是了解生物能量学如何将环境变化过滤到自然景观中野生动物种群的分布、丰富和共存中。在接下来的五年里，我们将把重点放在季节性上，并检验这样一个假设：如果野生动物种群对环境变化的反应不同，则季节阶段的持续时间和强度的变化将改变野生动物种群的季节性反应、相互作用强度、优势时期和持久性。实地研究将侧重于四种不同的捕食系统--捕食系统(育空地区西南部的山猫-郊狼-野兔-红松鼠、有蹄类--育空地区的大型捕食者、阿迪朗达克地区的中型食肉动物及其猎物、魁北克北部当地土著食物系统的社会生态)，所有这些都位于北方和/或亚北极环境中，而且都涉及对多种捕食者及其替代猎物的同时监测。在每个系统中，以及在所有四个系统中，我们将评估对不同季节反应假说的支持，并促进特定系统的知识和新知识在保护行动中的应用。以类似的方式研究多个系统，可以评估共性，确定特殊性，并分享影响。这项拟议的研究推进了与北方野生动物和人类的生理、行为、生态学、进化和自然历史有关的知识，以及这些相互关联的生物学方面如何与季节性相结合来确定北方系统对环境变化的敏感性。

Seasonality is an annual cycle comprised of wave-like variation in photoperiod - short then long then short again - and temperature - cold then warm then cold again. Seasons are fundamentally important to plants, animals, and people because light, snow, resources, and temperature have fundamental impacts on organismal function and interactions. But research tends to be conducted across only a fraction of the annual cycle and most ecological and evolutionary theory has ignored seasons and seasonality. We use a combination of laboratory, field, and modeling approaches to identify the ecological and evolutionary consequences of animal energetics (the process by which animals acquire and assimilate energy from the environment, and allocate assimilated energy between maintenance, growth, and reproduction). Our research is uniquely able to obtain integrated measures of the energy availability, acquisition, and expenditure of free--ranging wildlife and to embed these bioenergetic measures into a well-resolved life history and ecological context. The long-term objective of my Discovery Grant research program is to understand how bioenergetics filters environmental variation into the distribution, abundance and coexistence of wildlife populations within natural landscapes. Over the next five years, we will focus on seasonality and testing the hypothesis that, if wildlife populations are characterized by differential responses to environmental variation, changes in the duration and intensity of seasonal phases will alter the seasonal responses, interaction strengths, periods of advantage, and the persistence of wildlife populations. Field research will focus on four distinct predator--prey systems (lynx-coyote-hare-red squirrel in southwest Yukon, ungulates-large predators in North Yukon, meso-carnivores and their prey in Adirondacks, the social-ecology of local Indigenous food systems in Northern Quebec), all situated in boreal and/or subarctic environments, and all involving simultaneous monitoring of multiple predators and their alternative prey. In each system, and across all four systems, we will evaluate support for the differential seasonal response hypothesis as well as advance system-specific knowledge and the application of new knowledge to conservation action. Studying multiple systems in a similar manner allows generality to be assessed, specificities to be identified, and impact shared. This proposed research advances knowledge related to the physiology, behaviour, ecology, evolution, and natural history of northern wildlife and people, and how these inter-related aspects of biology combine with seasonality to determine the susceptibility of northern systems to environmental change.