Collaborative Research: Patches, Corridors, and Dispersal of Insects and Plants: Scaling up from Local Experiments to Large Complex Landscapes

克服栖息地碎片化的负面影响的最受欢迎的策略之一是将原本孤立的斑块与走廊连接起来。然而，走廊促进动植物移动和增加它们的种群数量的假设，这是保护生物学的核心原则，几乎没有得到检验。这些研究人员将对廊道对动植物的影响进行大规模实验，并确定廊道在人类主导的景观中作为保护工具的有效性。这项研究将与美国林业局在南卡罗来纳州的萨凡纳河生态实验室合作进行。这项研究有三个主要目的：1)检验廊道增加连通斑块之间的移动的假说；2)检验廊道增加连通斑块中动植物丰富度的假说；3)检验廊道增加该地区森林管理活动规模上较不孤立斑块中物种丰富度的假说。利用现场试验的数据，PI将对基于地理信息系统的模拟模型进行参数化，以确定人类主导景观中走廊的价值。在实验景观和管理景观中的这些研究的综合结果将产生对走廊对植物和动物种群的影响及其与零散景观保护的相关性的最深远、最明确的测试。

9907365HaddadOne of the most popular strategies to overcome the negative effects of habitat fragmentation is to link otherwise isolated patches with corridors. However, the assumption that corridors facilitate plant and animal movement and increase their population sizes, a central tenet of conservation biology, has been virtually untested. These investigators will conduct large scale experiments of corridor effects on plants and animals, and determine the efficacy of corridors as conservation tools in human dominated landscapes. The study will occur in cooperation with the US Forest Service at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in South Carolina. The study has three primary objectives: 1) to test the hypothesis that corridors increase movement between connected patches, 2) to test the hypothesis that corridors increase plant and animal abundances in connected patches, and 3) to test the hypothesis that corridors increase species abundances in less isolated patches on the scale of forest management activities in this region. Using data from the field experiments, the PIs will parameterize GIS-based simulation models to determine the value of corridors in human dominated landscapes. The combined results of these studies in experimental and managed landscapes will generate the most far-reaching, definitive test of corridor effects on plant and animal populations, and their relevance to conservation in fragmented landscapes.