CRB: Collaborative Research: Stimulating Woodland Restoration: Long Term Effects of Spatial and Biotic Pattern

9726445汉德尔空间关系可以对生态群落的结构和功能产生强烈的影响，恢复实验可以在群落发展的形成阶段探索这些影响。这项研究的背景是城市荒地上林地的自然演替失败。实验方法是测试刺激林地发展的方法，研究促进或抑制演替的地上和地下过程。在纽约市的Fresh Kills垃圾填埋场，在一大片高度干扰的土地上进行的一项正在进行的实验中，已经建立了一簇簇的木本植物作为连续接种。这些集群以不同的斑块大小排列，以评估互惠关系的发展，草食的作用，以及土壤过程对建立和恢复速度的限制。为当前提案提供的资金将使这些研究人员能够继续进行这项有价值的长期修复实验。研究结果将为退化土地的恢复提供明确的实用信息。此外，该项目将对从生态演替的大量理论中衍生出来的问题进行实验测试。

9726445 Handel Spatial relationships can have strong influences on the structure and function of ecological communities, and restoration experiments can be used to explore those influences during formative phases of community development. The context of this research is the failure of natural succession to woodland on urban, derelict lands. The experimental approach is to test methods for stimulating woodland development, studying above- and belowground processes that promote or inhibit succession. In an on-going experiment on a large tract of highly disturbed land, the Fresh Kills Landfill in New York City, clusters of woody plants have been established as successional inocula. The clusters are arrayed in different patch sizes to assess the development of mutualisms, the role of herbivory, and the limitations of soil processes on establishment and rates of restoration. Funding for the current proposal will allow these investigators to continue this valuable long-term restoration experiment. Results from this research will provide explicit practical information for the restoration of degraded lands. In addition, this project will provide experimental tests of questions derived from the large body of theory on ecological succession.