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

9727545罗宾逊空间关系对生态群落的结构和功能具有重要影响，在群落发展的形成阶段，可以通过恢复实验来探讨空间关系对群落结构和功能的影响。本研究的背景是城市废弃土地自然演替到林地的失败。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Fresh Kills垃圾填埋场的一大片高度受干扰的土地上进行的一项正在进行的实验中，木本植物群被建立为连续接种物。这些群落以不同的斑块大小排列，以评估共生关系的发展、草食的作用以及土壤过程对建立和恢复速度的限制。目前提案的资金将允许这些研究人员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，本项目将对生态演替理论中产生的问题进行实验检验。

9727545 Robinson 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.