Dissertation Research: Does Habitat Heterogeneity Reduce Population Variability? An Experimental Analysis

随着天气和季节的变化，所有生物体都经历着环境条件的变化。这种变异会引起种群大小的变异，从而增加种群灭绝的风险。该研究将通过实验验证一个假设，即栖息地内热小气候的异质性可以减少气候引起的种群动态变化。研究将分析生境异质性的影响。栖息在果园腐烂苹果上的黑腹果蝇种群将被用作研究系统，因为动物和它们的栖息地都可以被控制，对个体和种群的影响可以被量化。研究将：(1)表征苹果温度条件的环境和生境内变化；(2)量化这些温度条件对个体蝇适合度的影响；(3)通过实验控制果园生境的热异质性，考察其对黑腹田鼠种群动态的影响。该研究将有助于更好地理解生境异质性和环境变化对动物种群的影响。这些结果对于保护生物学来说尤其重要，因为它们可以改善对栖息地改变将如何影响稀有或濒危物种持久性的预测。

9902350Kingsolver & HoekstraAll organisms experience variation in environmental conditions as weather and seasons change. This variation can induce variability in the size of a population that consequently increases the population's risk of extinction. The proposed research will experimentally test the hypothesis that heterogeneity of thermal microclimates within a habitat can reduce weather-induced variation in population dynamics. The research will analyze effects of habitat heterogeneity. Populations of Drosophila melanogaster that inhabit rotting apples in orchards will be used as a study system because both the animals and their habitat can be manipulated, and effects on individuals and populations can be quantified. The research will: (1) characterize environmental and within-habitat variation in temperature conditions that occur in apples; (2) quantify the effect of these temperature conditions on fitness of individual flies; and (3) experimentally manipulate the thermal heterogeneity of the orchard habitat to measure how it affects population dynamics of D. melanogaster. This research will contribute to a better understanding of how habitat heterogeneity and environmental variation affect animal populations. The results are especially important for conservation biology because they may improve predictions about how habitat modification will affect the persistence of rare or endangered species.