Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biosciences Related to the Environment for FY 1998

摘要 Brian J. Enquist 这项行动为1998年国家科学基金会与环境有关的生物科学博士后研究金提供资金。 该奖学金为研究员提供了一个机会，使其能够在博士学位之外获得额外的科学培训，并在分子，细胞，生物体，种群，在国家科学基金会生物科学理事会支持的任何生物学领域的社区和/或生态系统水平。 每项研究金资助一项研究和培训计划，该计划将在一个赞助实验室进行。 该奖学金的研究和培训计划是题为异速生长作为一个基本机制连接进化和生态模式的维管植物。 传统上，植物大小的作用在植物学研究中并不像在动物研究中那样重要。在动物研究中，生物体大小（或异速生长）已被证明影响生物体生物学和多样性的几乎所有方面。 有趣的是，异速生长关系已被证明是由一个简单的数学关系描述的指数，是一个四分之一的权力。这些四分之一幂异速生长描述了生物学的几乎所有方面（解剖学、生理学、种群生态学、生活史），这一事实强烈表明，一个或几个关键机制可能将生物组织和过程联系起来。 最近，我提出了一个生物异速生长起源的一般模型。该模型是基于通过血管网络的资源运输。 也许它最大的洞察力是，尽管植物和动物不同，但从异速生长的角度来看，它们有许多共同的关系。这项工作的基本假设是异速生长提供了一个窗口，通过它可以批判性地研究影响植物（和动物）结构，功能和进化的基本机制。该提案将通过使用与计算机模拟和数学建模相结合的血管解剖学和生理学的各种经验测量来探索模型在维管植物中的具体预测。具体来说，这项工作将测试的作用，脉管系统在决定植物的结构，进化，并限制当地生态群落的生态模式。

Abstract DBI-9804135 Brian J. Enquist This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biosciences Related to the Environment for 1998. This fellowship provides an opportunity for the Fellow to gain additional scientific training beyond the doctoral degree and to pursue innovative and imaginative research into the fundamental mechanisms underlying the interactions between organisms and their environment at the molecular, cellular, organismal, population, community and/or ecosystem level in any area of biology supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences of the National Science Foundation. Each fellowship supports a research and training plan to be carried out in a sponsoring laboratory. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled Allometry as a fundamental mechanism linking evolutionary and ecological pattern in vascular plants. Traditionally, the role of plant size has not been as important to the study of botany as it has been in animal research. In animal studies, organism size (or allometry) has been shown to influence nearly all aspects of organismal biology and diversity. Interestingly, allometric relationships have been shown to be described by a simple mathematical relationship described by an exponent that is a quarter-power. The fact that these quarter-power allometries describe nearly all aspects of biology (anatomy, physiology, ecology of populations, life- histories) strongly suggests that one or a few critical mechanisms might link biological organization and process. Recently, I have proposed a general model for the origin of biological allometries. The model is based on the transportation of resources through vascular networks. Perhaps its biggest insight is that although plant and animals differ, allometrically they share numerous relationships. The underlying assumption of this work is that allometry offers a window by which one can critically investigate fundamental mechanisms influencing pla nt (and animal) structure, function, and evolution. This proposal will explore the specific predictions of the model in vascular plants by using various empirical measurements of vascular anatomy and physiology, tied with computer simulation and mathematical modeling. Specifically this work will test the role of vascular systems in dictating plant architecture, evolution, and constraining ecological patterns in local ecological communities.