Collaborative Research: Intermediate Regulation of Reservoir Communities: Strong Regulators, Stochasticity, and the Generality of the Trophic Cascade Hypotheses

9407859 Stein本项目研究了美国低纬度水库的营养级联假说，在那里自上而下或自下而上的营养控制的主导范式可能不成立。具体来说，砂囊似乎既不受鱼类捕食者的控制，也不受浮游动物猎物的控制。研究人员假设，鲨鱼自己调节着群落的组成。这项研究将通过在俄亥俄州和阿拉巴马州的八个水库中检查幼虫与蓝鳃鱼的相互作用来验证这一观点。研究人员还将对浮游动物和幼虫的生产力进行实验，并开发这些营养相互作用的模型。这项研究将扩展目前对生态系统控制和群落结构的理解，对食物网的动态有更全面的了解。本研究结果在鱼类资源管理、水库管理和保护生物学等方面具有应用价值。

9407859 Stein This project examines the trophic cascade hypothesis in lower-latitude US reservoirs, where the dominant paradigm of top-down or bottom-up trophic controls may not hold. Specifically, gizzard shad appear to neither be controlled by fish predators nor by their zooplankton prey. The investigators hypothesize that the shad themselves regulate community composition. This research will test this idea by examining larval shad-bluegill interactions in eight reservoirs in Ohio and Alabama. The investigators will also conduct experiments on zooplankton and larval shad productivity, and develop models of these trophic interactions. This research will extend the current understanding of ecosystem control and community structure, yielding a more general understanding of the dynamics of food webs. The results of this research have applications in the management of fish stocks, reservoir management, and conservation biology.