CRB: Experimentation in Restoration Ecology: The Role of Habitat Heterogeneity in Stream Ecosystems

我们建议，以确定负责恢复受损的溪流的物理和生物机制。 具体而言，我们将确定是否增加的物理栖息地类型的多样性，促进恢复流生态系统扰动后的河床。 此外，我们将评估洪水如何与栖息地多样性相互作用，以阻碍或促进生态系统恢复后的损害。 我们将物理分区流的多个部分成成对的一半（一个控制和一个恢复治疗），干扰治疗的一半，然后改变的大小和复杂性的河床基质在治疗的一半。 我们将测量对扰动和恢复处理的物理和生物反应，并确定受扰动部分何时以及如何恢复。" 恢复将被估计为生物多样性和生态系统功能之间的相似性，在控制和处理部分的流。 该实验模仿了州和国家环境管理组织目前使用的恢复方法。 这些方法从未被科学地评估过，以确定它们是否（以及为什么）能促进受损河流生态系统的恢复。 我们的实验还将测试一个与环境科学广泛相关的核心生态问题：增加物理栖息地多样性是否会增强物种多样性和生态系统功能？ ??

We propose to identify the physical and biological mechanisms responsible for restoration of damaged streams. Specifially, we will determine whether an increase in the diversity of physical habitat types on a streambed promotes restoration of a stream ecosystem following a perturbation. Further, we will assess how flooding interacts with habitat diversity to impede or promote ecosystem recovery following damage. We will physically partition multiple sections of a stream into paired halves (one control and one restoration treatment), disturb treatment halves, and then alter the size and complexity of the streambed substrate in the treatments halves. We will measure physical and biological responses to the disturbance and to the restoration treatments, and determine when and how the disturbed sections "recover." Recovery will be estimated as the similarity between biological diversity and ecosystem function in control and treatment sections of the stream. This experiment mimics restoration methods currently used by state and national environmental management groups. These methods have never been evaluated scientifically to determine if (and why) they enhance restoration of damaged stream ecosystems. Our experiment will also test a central ecological question of broad relevance to environmental science: does increasing physical habitat diversity enhance species diversity and ecosystem function? ??