U.S.-Finland Cooperative Research on a Model Relating Predation Rate and Habitat Structural Complexity

这一奖项将使佛罗里达理工学院的沃尔特·G·纳尔逊博士能够与芬兰阿博·阿卡德米的埃里克·邦斯多夫博士合作，研究栖息地复杂性与猎物捕食脆弱性之间的关系。具体地说，他们将对鱼类和两足类动物进行严格的实验室实验，以确定是否存在一个空间复杂性的阈值水平，低于这个阈值，复杂性的变化对猎物的生存没有影响。研究人员将在胡索生物站进行实验室实验，邦斯多夫博士在那里进行了大量的野外数据收集，并对鱼类捕食者和海底猎物之间的浅水相互作用进行了实验。当地生物的基本生物学是众所周知的。在这个实验室附近的芬兰奥兰岛的芦苇床是一个足够简单的系统，由于物种多样性较低，可以在实验室实验中真实地模拟营养关系。实验室研究将导致关于猎物在芦苇床内的分布和丰度的假设，这可以通过未来的野外实验来检验。纳尔逊博士在研究美国东部复杂海草群落的捕食者-猎物关系和干扰方面有经验。他将受益于获得一个特别适合对这些类型的生态关系进行建模的田间系统。这项合作将允许研究人员将他们的专业知识和洞察力结合起来，努力促进对捕食者-猎物关系的理解。纳尔逊博士和其他人最近的研究表明，猎物的脆弱性与底物的复杂性不是简单的线性关系，而是更好地用阶跃函数来描述，至少在复杂性谱的低端。然而，这一假设尚未经过仔细的实验检验。如果捕食者-猎物相互作用的空间复杂性阈值的概念能够得到证实(或驳斥)，这将为了解栖息地对生物相互作用的影响提供有价值的见解。如果这一假设得到证实，这一知识将改善对某些类型的人类干扰对自然系统潜在影响的预测，并将改善恢复受损栖息地或创建人工栖息地的努力。

This award will enable Dr. Walter G. Nelson of the Florida Institute of Technology to collaborate with Dr. Erik Bonsdorff of the Abo Akademi, Finland in a study of the relationship between habitat complexity and prey vulnerability to predation. Specifically, they will carry out rigorous laboratory experiments with fish and amphipods to determine whether there is a threshold level of spatial complexity below which variations in complexity have no effect on prey survivorship. The researchers will perform their laboratory experiments at the Huso Biological Station where Dr. Bonsdorff has done extensive field data collection and experiments on shallow water interactions between fish predators and benthic prey. The basic biology of the local organisms is well known. The reed beds in the Aland Islands of Finland near this laboratory are a simple enough system, due to low species diversity, for trophic relationships to be modelled realistically in laboratory experiments. The laboratory studies will lead to hypotheses concerning prey distribution and abundance within the reed beds which can be tested by future field experiments. Dr. Nelson has experience in studies of predator-prey relationships and disturbance among the fauna of complex seagrass communities in the eastern U.S. He will benefit from access to a field system that is particularly well suited to modelling these types of ecological relationships. The collaboration will allow the researchers to combine their expertise and insights in an effort to advance understanding of predator-prey relationships. Recent work by Dr. Nelson and others has suggested that prey vulnerability does not have a simple linear relationship to substrate complexity, but rather, it is better described by a step function, at least at the low end of the complexity spectrum. However, this hypothesis has not yet been carefully tested experimentally. If the concept of a threshold of spatial complexity in predator-prey interactions can be confirmed (or refuted), this will provide a valuable insight into the effect of habitat on biotic interactions. If the hypothesis is substantiated, the knowledge will improve prediction of the potential impact of certain kinds of human disturbance on natural systems, and will improve efforts to restore damaged habitats or create artificial habitats.