RUI: Mammalian Herbivores as Consumers and Fertilizers: Consequences for Community Structure and Ecosystem Dynamics

提案#：9981663标题：哺乳动物食草动物作为消费者和化肥-对群落结构和生态系统动力学的影响哺乳动物食草动物在陆地系统中可能具有极大的影响力，尽管它们通常对植物群落和生态系统具有不同的、往往相反的影响。确定这种变异的原因对于努力理解和概括这些食草动物在自然界中的影响是至关重要的。这项研究考虑了加利福尼亚州北部海岸的两种根本不同的食草动物，并解决了四个问题：1)黑尾鹿和长颈兔作为消费者和化肥的活动，通过代谢废物的沉积，对植物群落和生态系统有不同的影响吗？2)消费者和肥料的影响在沙丘和草原生境中的相对重要性是否不同？3)在同一海岸系统中，鹿和长颈兔不同的取食偏好是否导致对植物群落和土壤肥力的不同影响？4)在缺乏营养的沙丘系统中，草食动物通过长期在固氮灌木上觅食，会降低土壤肥力吗？该项目将对了解脊椎动物与植物的相互作用做出重大贡献。

Prop #: 9981663Title: Mammalian Herbivores as Consumers and Fertilizers - Consequences For Community Structure and Ecosystem DynamicsMammalian herbivores can be extremely influential in terrestrial systems, although they commonly have variable and often opposing effects on plant communities and ecosystems. Identifying the causes of this variation is central for efforts to understand and generalize about the effects of these herbivores in nature. This research considers two fundamentally different herbivore species along the coast of northern California, and addresses four questions: 1) Do black-tailed deer and jackrabbits have different effects on plant communities and ecosystems through their activities as consumers versus fertilizers, through the deposition of metabolic wastes? 2) Does the relative importance of consumer and fertilizer effects vary between dune and grassland habitats? 3) Do the contrasting feeding preferences of deer and jackrabbits lead to different effects on plant communities and soil fertility in the same coastal system? And 4) Through long-term browsing on a nitrogen-fixing shrub, do herbivores decrease soil fertility in a nutrient-deficient dune system? This project will make a significant contribution to understanding vertebrate-plant interactions.