REU: Disturbance and the Dynamics of Pattern in a Sand Plain Oak Savannah: A Hierarchical Approach to the Problem of Species Persistence

这个项目是一个研究原生草原多年生植物如何能够在沙地平原上发展的橡树大草原林地中持续生存的研究。该项目基于这样一个概念，即对持久性的解释受到所研究的空间尺度的影响。本项目的研究物种为原产于美国中西部沙质草原和稀树草原的大桔梗（Penstemon grandflorus）。具体来说，我们提出了三个空间尺度：植物社区、草原/森林复合体中的个体开口和整体景观，以确定彭茎是如何持续存在的。本文将探讨口袋地鼠与演替过程相互作用对该物种在三个不同尺度上的持久性的影响。小的试验田将被用来检验在邻近尺度上涉及持久性的假设；更大的长期观测图将用于检验关于孔洞演替动力学的假设；航空摄影和计算机制图将被用于在景观水平上测试假设。

This project is a study of how a native prairie perennial plant is able to persist in an oak savannah woodland developed on a sand plain. The project is based on the notion that explanations of persistence are affected by the spatial scale under study. The study species for this project is Penstemon grandiflorus (Scrophulariaceae) a plant native to midwestern sand prairies and savannahs. Specifically, it is proposed to determine how Penstemon persists at three spatial scales: the plant neighborhood, individual openings in the savannah/forest complex, and the overall landscape. The way in which, pocket gophers, and processes associated with succession interact to affect the persistence of this species at the three different scales will be examined. Small experimental plots will be used to test hypotheses involving persistence at the scale of the neighborhood; larger long-term observation plots will be used to test hypotheses regarding successional dynamics of openings; and aerial photography and computer mapping will be used to test hypotheses at the landscape level.