RUI: Interactions Between Insect Herbivores and Disturbance in Influencing Plant Succession: A Mechanistic Approach

9408029巴赫这个项目将调查昆虫食草性和非生物干扰对沙丘初级演替速率和模式的影响，重点是定居植物沙柳和专门的食叶甲虫Altica subplicata。本项目将研究沙埋和洪水(两种自然干扰)对沙柳性能和植物演替的影响，以及草食和干扰在影响沙丘演替中的相互作用。关于干扰和食草性对演替的交互影响的研究有限，但这种交互作用可能会对群落变化过程产生重大影响。所有生物群落都处于演替变化状态。了解推动这一变化的机制将提高我们管理变化的生态系统和生物保护区、促进生态系统恢复和减轻生物多样性损失的能力。

9408029 Bach This project will investigate the effects of insect herbivory and abiotic disturbance on rates and patterns of primary succession on sand dunes, with emphasis on the colonizing plant Salix cordata and the specialist folivorous beetle Altica subplicata. This project will examine the effect of sand burial and flooding (two natural disturbances) on Salix performance and plant succession, and the interaction between herbivory and disturbance in influencing sand-dune succession. There has been only limited study of the interactive effects of disturbance and herbivory on succession, yet such interactions may have major influences on the course of community change. All biological communities are in a state of successional change. Understanding the mechanisms that drive this change will improve our ability to manage altered ecosystems and biological preserves, promote ecosystem recovery, and mitigate the loss of biological diversity.