Population Dynamic Consequences of Dispersal and Between-year Dormancy

已经开发了理论模型来研究 延迟发芽和种子传播的后果， 植物在多变环境中的生态学和进化。 这些模型表明休眠和扩散是重要的 处理和利用环境问题的机制 变化量 然而，实际上没有实验性的 校准这些模型或测试其预测， 由于难以量化， 种子传播和休眠的种群动态。 新的研究 将采用新的程序，这有助于估计 植物扩散和延迟发芽的程度 人口，以确定内的相对重要性- 生境繁殖、年间种子库和种子传播 在沙漠一年生植物的自然种群中。 本研究将 在亚利桑那大学的沙漠实验室进行， 那里有最古老的沙漠永久性研究 植物，88年的准确天气数据，以及9年的 收集的拟定研究微生物的人口统计学数据。 荒漠化和日益严重的人类干扰 对自然生态系统的影响已经司空见惯。 重要的是要 我们知道我们的理论概念在多大程度上 变异的生态和进化后果是 实际上可以预测自然界的变化。 与特定 关于沙漠一年生植物，大部分的植物群 沙漠地区是一年生植物（通常30 - 100%）。 对它们的生命周期、生态学和进化的研究 仅提供一般理解的基础，但可以提供 一些关于它们的保护和合理性的见解 开发（例如在干旱地区放牧）。

Theoretical models have been developed to investigate the consequences that delayed germination and seed dispersal have for the ecology and evolution of plants in variable environments. These models suggest that dormancy and dispersal are important mechanisms for coping with, and exploiting environmental variation. There has been, however, virtually no experimental calibration of those models or tests of their predictions in natural populations due to the difficulty of quantifying the population dynamics of seed dispersal and dormancy. New research will apply new procedures, which facilitate the estimation of the magnitudes of dispersal and delayed germination for plant populations, to determine the relative importance of within- habitat reproduction, between-year seed bank, and seed dispersal in natural populations of desert annuals. The study will be performed at the Desert Laboratory of the University of Arizona, which has the oldest ongoing permanent plot studies of desert plants, 88 years of accurate weather data, and 9 years of demographic data collected on the proposed study organisms. Desertification and increasing levels of human disturbance to natural ecosystems are now commonplace. It is important to know to what extent our theoretical concepts regarding the ecological and evolutionary consequences of variation are actually predictive of what goes on in nature. With specific respect to desert annuals, a large fraction of the flora of desert regions are annual plants (frequently 30-100%). Investigations of their life-cycles, ecology and evolution not only provide a basis for general understanding, but may provide some insights regarding their conservation and rational exploitation (e.g. in arid land grazing).