The Community-Level Consequences of Species Interactions: Null Community Experiments With Annual Plants

9629723 Goldberg这项研究将在整个群落水平上研究植物之间对有限资源(如光和水)的竞争的影响。虽然竞争对个体植物表现的影响是众所周知的，但竞争对不同和复杂群落的总体影响却知之甚少。以沙漠一年生植物群落为模式系统，我们将进行一系列园艺和田间实验，以操纵整个植物群落的密度，以确定竞争相互作用如何导致物种丰富度和生物多样性的变化。这些实验将模拟从沙漠到潮湿得多的地中海气候的自然降雨梯度，以便我们还可以研究环境之间竞争的影响如何变化。由于全球气候变化模型预测了降水模式的重大变化，这些数据与植被如何应对全球环境变化的一般模型直接相关。

9629723 GOLDBERG This research will examine the effects of competition among plant for limited resources such as light and water at the level of the entire community. While competitive effects on individual plant performance are well known, the general effects of competition on diverse and complex communities are much more poorly understood. Using desert annual plant communities as a model system, we will conduct a series of garden and field experiments to manipulate the density of entire plant communities to determine how competitive interactions lead to change in species' abundances and biodiversity. The experiments will mimic a natural rainfall gradient from a desert to a much wetter Mediterranean climate so that we can also investigate how the influence of competition changes among environments. Because models of global climatic change predict major shifts in precipitation patterns, these data are directly relevant to general models of how vegetation will respond to global environmental change.