Components of Habitat Determination in Tropical Piper Species

这项拟议的研究将调查一组在旧大陆和新大陆热带非常常见的植物物种的适应情况。研究将集中在一组密切相关的物种上，这些物种生活在墨西哥单一热带雨林内略有不同的栖息地。这些实验，包括田间、温室和实验室研究，将检验几个基于一般假设的预测，即在受干扰的栖息地成功需要最大限度地捕获和利用光、水和养分的反应，而在阴暗的栖息地取得成功取决于保守的反应，将这些资源严重短缺的前景降至最低。这些实验的结果应该有助于回答关于进化如何塑造不同生境物种的一般性问题，并有助于建立在受干扰和未受干扰的热带雨林生境中植物成功的标准。虽然拟议的研究在方向上是基本的，但它应该会产生具有短期适用性的信息。热带雨林在经济和文化上都很重要，但热带雨林的破坏速度很快。目前，对雨林生物学的了解太少，管理者无法设计有效的重新造林技术，也无法实施雨林资源利用计划，以保护森林的完整性和功能性。这项拟议的研究将重点放在植物在受干扰和未受干扰的生境中生长的机制上，将开始为管理者提供必要的背景知识。

The proposed research will investigate adaptation in a group of plant species very common throughout the Old and New World tropics. Studies will focus on a group of closely related species that live in slightly different habitats within a single tropical rainforest in Mexico. The experiments, including field, greenhouse, and laboratory studies, will test several predictions based on the general hypothesis that success in disturbed habitats requires responses that tend to maximize the capture and utilization of light, water, and nutrients, while success in shady habitats depends on conservative responses that minimize the prospects for critical shortages of these resources. Results of these experiments should be useful both in answering general questions about how evolution shapes species for different habitats and in establishing criteria for plant success in disturbed and undisturbed rainforest habitats. Though the proposed research is basic in its orientation, it should yield information with short-term applicability. Tropical rainforests are important both economically and culturally, but rainforest destruction is proceeding at a high rate. At present, rainforest biology is too poorly understood for managers to design effective reforestation techniques and to implement programs of rainforest resource utilization that preserve the integrity and functionality of the forest. The proposed research, by focusing on the mechanisms that allow plants to grow in disturbed and undisturbed habitats, will begin to give managers the necessary background.