Species-, Community-, and Ecosystem-Level Consequences of the Interactions Among Multiple Resources

所有植物都需要从环境中获取至少15种元素，包括碳、氮、磷和硫。除了这些元素资源，植物还需要光和水。尽管植物对这些资源的相对需求保持相对恒定，但它们在环境中的相对可获得性在空间和时间上都可能有很大差异。因此，植物必须适应资源可获得性的这种变化，以维持平衡的营养。不同物种在进行这种调整时的相对成功程度将在一定程度上决定生态系统的生产力、植物群落的组成、物种多样性、养分循环的速度以及二氧化碳的储存或损失的速度。在这笔赠款中，为理解多种资源之间的复杂相互作用以及这些相互作用对物种、植物群落以及营养循环和碳固存等生态系统过程的后果奠定了理论基础。然后使用阿拉斯加北部北极苔原长期生态研究(LTER)地点的数据对这一理论进行了验证。

All plants need to acquire at least 15 elements from their environment including carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur. In addition to these element resources, plants also require light and water. Although the relative requirement for these resources by plants remains relatively constant, their relative availability in the environment can vary drastically in both space and time. Plants must therefore adjust to this variability in resource availability to maintain a balanced nutrition. The relative success of various species in making this adjustment will in part determine the productivity of the ecosystem, the composition of the plant community, the species diversity, the rates of nutrient cycling, and the rate of CO2 storage or loss. In this grant, a theoretical foundation is established for understanding the complex interactions among multiple resources and the consequences of these interactions on species, on communities of plants, and on ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. The theory is then tested using data from the Arctic Tundra Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in northern Alaska.