PRF/J: Trophic Interactions Within a Wetland Food Web That Influence Populations of Midge Detritivores

由于最近对湖泊和河流的研究表明，营养相互作用强烈影响群落结构，因此可以预期这种相互作用也会类似地影响湿地群落。然而，虽然在大多数湖泊和河流研究中检查的初级生产者是活的植物，但湿地中最可消费的初级生产者是碎屑。因此，湿地的食物网动态可能不同于其他水生系统。以前的湿地研究人员已经控制了碎屑生物量的自下而上的力量，但碎屑生物种群通常没有响应；湿地的营养动物可能不受资源限制。很少有研究研究湿地的腐食动物是如何受到自上而下的捕食力量的影响的。计划进行实验，研究自下而上与碎屑的相互作用以及自上而下与捕食者的相互作用如何同时影响食腐蠓的种群。利用纽约湿地的封闭/封闭生态系统（2 × 2米），将研究以下现象：蠓对植物凋落物生物量的反应、一级捕食者密度（昆虫）和二级捕食者密度（鱼）。确定食物和生境异质性对蠓类的相对影响。湿地栖息地可以说是所有水生栖息地中了解最少的，也是最濒危的。如今，有关湿地的政策决定是在科学信息不足的情况下做出的。除了解决有关湿地的理论问题外，这项工作还对应用生态学有影响，因为蠓是初级生产者和高级消费者（如雀鸟和水禽）之间的重要联系。

Because recent studies in lakes and rivers indicate that trophic interactions strongly influence community structure, it might be expected that such interactions would similarly influence wetland communities. However while the primary producers examined in most lake and river studies were live plants, most consumable primary production in wetlands is detritus. Thus food web dynamics in wetlands probably differ from those in other aquatic systems. Previous wetland researchers have manipulated the bottom-up force of detritus biomass but detritivore populations often don't respond; wetland detritivores may not be resource limited. Few investigations have examined how wetland detritivores are influenced by top-down forces of predation. Experiments that examine how bottom-up interactions with detritus and top-down interactions with predators concurrently affect populations of detritivorous midges are planned. Using enclosure/exclosure mesocosms (2 x 2 m) in a New York wetland, the following phenomena will be examined: midge responses to plant litter biomass, first- level predator densities (insects), and second-level predator densities (fish). The relative influences on midges of food and habitat heterogeneity from detritus will be determined. %%% Wetland habitats are arguably the least understood of all aquatic habitats and are the most endangered as well. These days, policy decisions regarding wetlands are being made with insufficient scientific information. In addition to addressing theoretical questions about wetlands, this work has implications for applied ecology because midges are important links between primary producers and higher level consumers (such as passerine birds and waterfowl).