Dissertation Research: Differences in Foraging Behavior among Multiple Predator Species: Implications for Prey Communities

提案：db - 0104644pis: Daniel A. Soluk和Heather D. vance标题：论文研究：多种捕食者物种之间觅食行为的差异：对猎物群落的影响通过研究复杂系统的孤立子组件，许多人认为在这些小子集中观察到的过程可以加在一起来预测更大系统中的现象。这个假设在捕食理论中是固有的，然而许多最近的研究报告称，特定捕食者与猎物隔离的影响不能加在一起来预测多种捕食者物种同时的影响。预测比预期更高或更低的捕食率的能力对于确定猎物种群的死亡率模式至关重要。一项涉及使用相似觅食行为的捕食者和使用不同觅食行为的捕食者的实验室实验将用于测试关于多种捕食者物种捕食的综合效应的假设。该实验将通过展示影响自然界中物种分布和丰度的因素，提供有关猎物面临的捕食风险水平的知识，并对生物多样性产生影响。这项研究将提高我们预测入侵捕食物种对本地群落影响的能力。

Proposal: DEB-0104644PIs: Daniel A. Soluk and Heather D. VanceTitle: Dissertation Research: Differences in foraging behavior among multiple predator species: Implications for prey communitiesBy studying isolated subcomponents of complex systems, many assume that the processes observed in such small subsets can be added together to predict phenomena in the larger system. This assumption is inherent in predation theory, yet many recent studies report that the impacts of particular predators in isolation with their prey cannot be added together to predict the impact of multiple predator species simultaneously. The ability to predict conditions under which higher or lower rates of predation than expected will occur is crucial to determining patterns of mortality in prey populations. A lab experiment involving predators that use similar foraging behaviors and those that use different foraging behaviors will be used to test hypotheses about the combined effects of predation by multiple predator species. This experiment will provide knowledge about the level of predation risk that prey face and has implications for biodiversity by demonstrating the factors influencing the distribution and abundance of species in nature. This study will improve our ability to predict the effect of invasive predator species on native communities.