Collaborative Research: The Influence of Animal-generated Disturbances on Multi-scale Spatial Patterns of Resources and Vegetation

动物直接(消耗)和间接(物理干扰)影响植物群落结构和动态。显然，此外，影响的空间格局也显著影响植物群落的结构。这一合作研究项目将使用动物产生的干扰系统(草本植物群落中的平原、口袋地鼠)，以空间可预测的模式(地表均匀分布的洞穴和聚集的土丘)来测试关于草食动物影响的空间模式的一系列假说。研究了干扰的空间格局对资源分布和植物群落结构的影响。此外，这些模式将在几个尺度上进行分析(从微尺度的邻里效应到整个领域的模式)。还将对土壤特性显著不同的两个地点进行比较，以便分析与土壤肥力有关的食草动物产生的影响的幅度。这项工作将有助于理解动物在植物群落结构中的作用，确定动物活动的模式及其转化为环境、植物生长和补充以及植被中的模式的机制，空间尺度从几厘米到数百平方米不等。

Animals affect plant community structure and dynamics directly (consumption) and indirectly (physical disturbance). It is clear that in addition, the spatial pattern of impacts also significantly influences the structure of plant communities. This collaborative research project will test a series of hypotheses concerning the spatial patterns of herbivore influence using a system of animal-generated disturbances (plains pocket gophers in herbaceous plant communities) that occur in spatially predictable patterns (uniformly spaced burrows and aggregated mounds on the surface). The impact of the spatial pattern of disturbance on resource distribution and plant community structure will be investigated. Furthermore, these patterns will be analyzed at several scales (from microscale neighborhood effects to field-wide patterns). Comparisons also will be made between two sites that differ significantly in soil characteristics, allowing analysis of the amplitude of herbivore-generated effects in relation to soil fertility. This work will contribute significantly to understanding the role of animals in plant community structure by determining the patterns of animal activities and the mechanisms by which they are translated into pattern in the environment, in plant growth and recruitment, and in vegetation across spatial scales ranging from several cm2 to hundreds of m2.