Studies in amphibian ecology and conservation: Fowler's Toad as a model system

整个地球仪的生物多样性和环境条件的迅速变化使得完善我们预测动植物将如何反应的能力至关重要。这就要求我们更好地了解小规模的生态进化动态过程，如生长和扩散，直接在野生种群和野生种群内在短时间内和大规模，长期的生态系统变化过程中，这些嵌入。我的生态学研究方法是根据实地收集的数据对野生种群进行深入了解，并将这些知识作为检验生物多样性、变异和分布的一般理论的跳板。我在这项工作中使用的动物是两栖动物，它们有许多特性，使它们适合生态研究，而且它们在世界范围内也受到了前所未有的威胁。随着对特定物种的生态学的全面了解再次成为当代保护生态学研究的前沿，我将继续专注于安大略长点的福勒蟾蜍，Anaxyrus fowleri，作为一个富有成效的模型研究系统。因为我可以在实验中饲养蝌蚪在围隔和半自然的外壳，确定所有个体蟾蜍在其postmetamorphic生活，并有30年的密集收集的丰度，生长和运动的数据，我能够解决许多基本的生态问题，使用福勒的蟾蜍作为模型，在一定程度上几乎无与伦比的两栖动物的研究。计划在人口水平上的项目包括种间竞争和两栖类幼虫的生态系统影响，伪装着色作为一种反捕食者的策略，在有关毒性，年龄和/或大小特定的选择，和量化的移民率之间的假定的亚群的基础上已知的个人的运动。在我的工作中对两栖动物种群的理解越来越精细的基础上，我将与北美和欧洲的同事合作，在更大的尺度上对动物种群的动态，分布和持久性进行更全面的理解。这项研究计划将为培养高素质的人才提供相当大的机会，并将有助于更全面地了解动物种群的生态学及其对环境变化的反应的复杂性。

Rapid changes in biodiversity and environmental conditions throughout the globe make it essential to perfect our abilities to predict how animals and plants will respond. This calls upon us to better understand both the small scale eco-evolutionary dynamic processes, such as growth and dispersal, that operate directly on and within wild populations over short time frames and the large scale, long-term processes of ecosystem change in which these are embedded. My approach to ecological research is to develop a deep understanding of wild populations based on data collected in the field and use that knowledge as the springboard for testing general theories about biological diversity, variation, and distribution. The animals I use for this work are amphibians, which have many properties that make them amenable for ecological studies, and which are also threatened to an unprecedented degree worldwide. With comprehensive understanding of the ecologies of particular species once again at the forefront of contemporary research in conservation ecology, I will continue to concentrate on the Fowler's Toads, Anaxyrus fowleri, at Long Point, Ontario, as a productive model study system. Because I can raise tadpoles experimentally both in mesocosms and in semi-natural enclosures, identify all individual toads throughout their postmetamorphic lives, and have 30 years of intensively collected abundance, growth and movement data to draw upon, I am able to address many fundamental ecological questions, using Fowler's Toads as the model, to a degree practically unequaled among studies of amphibians. Planned projects at the population level include interspecific competition and ecosystem effects in amphibian larvae, camouflage colouration as an anti-predator strategy in relation to noxiousness, age and/or size specific selection, and quantification of immigration rates between putative subpopulations based on movements of known individuals. On the basis of an increasingly refined comprehension of amphibian populations stemming from my work, I will collaborate with North American and European colleagues to approach a greater synthesis of understanding about the dynamics, distribution, and persistence of animal populations at larger scales. This research program will provide considerable opportunity for training highly qualified personnel and will contribute to an ever more complete picture of the ecology of animal populations and the complexities of their responses to environmental change.