Variation in Process and Mechanism with Scale in the Regulation of a Low Intertidal Plant Assemblage

评估内部和之间差异的原因 群落是群落生态学的主要问题。 门吉医生 将调查低潮带的群落调节 位于俄勒冈州中部海岸。 这些研究旨在 确定了空间结构的调节因素， 植物为主的组合在不同的地点暴露于 波 使用析因实验设计将允许 定量评估每一个的相对重要性 几个因素，并将提供最近的测试 社区监管的多因素模型。 评价的因素 将是捕食，干扰，竞争，招募， 沉降和生理应激。 具体目标是：（1） 的分布变化的原因的确定 沿波浪暴露梯度沿着的冲浪草，（2）量化 环境压力和招募密度的梯度， (3)干扰机制的确定，（4）实验- 植物过度生长机制的初步研究， (5)与间隙大小相关的冲浪草的生长 和位置

Evaluating the causes of variation within and between communities is the major problem in community ecology. Dr. Menge will investigate community regulation in the low intertidal zone on the central Oregon coast. These studies are aimed at determining the factors regulating the spatial structure of plant-dominated assemblages at sites differing in exposure to waves. Use of factorial experimental designs will permit quantitative evaluation of the relative importances of each of several factors, and will provide tests of a recent multifactorial model of community regulation. Factors evaluated will be predation, disturbance, competition, recruitment, sedimentation, and physiological stress. Specific goals are: (1) determination of the causes of variation in distribution of surfgrass along a wave exposure gradient, (2) quantification of gradients of environmental stress and recruitment density, (3) determination of mechanisms of disturbance, (4) experimen- tal studies of the mechanisms underlying plant overgrowth, and (5) recolonization of surfgrass in relation to clearance size and position.