QEIB: Spatial Ecologies Under Temporal Variation

加深对允许一个物种“入侵”另一个物种占据的区域的过程的理解，将有助于回答生态学中的基本问题。同样重要的是，对生物入侵的预见性了解应该会提高我们有效应对外来物种的能力，这些外来物种越来越多地给农业带来经济问题，并威胁到整个北美的本土生物多样性。生态学家认识到，生物入侵通常取决于入侵者最初聚集的方式，但大多数可用的模型都不太接近这些空间模式的后果。我们的研究将物理学中发展起来的成核理论应用于入侵者聚集问题。物理学家最初发展成核理论来解释各种过程，如固体中的结晶，大气中雪花或冰雹的形成，以及某些材料中磁区的增长。每一个这样的过程都始于一个或多个小的“核”，这些核可能会消失，也可能会生长，这取决于它们形成的环境。我们应用这一理论来预测入侵生物物种的空间集群何时会消失，或者集群何时会成长、合并和改变本地生态群落。进行这项研究将进一步允许我们向物理学生介绍生物学中的问题，并培训生物学生使用定量方法。

An increased understanding of processes allowing one species to "invade" the area occupied by another will help answer fundamental questions in ecology. Just as importantly, a predictive understanding of biological invasion should increase our capacity to respond effectively to alien species that increasingly impose economic problems on agriculture and threaten native biodiversity across North America. Ecologists recognize that biological invasion often depends on the way invaders are initially clustered, but most available models poorly approximate consequences of these spatial patterns. Our research applies nucleation theory, developed in physics, to the invader-clustering problem. Physicists originally developed nucleation theory to explain a variety of process, such as crystallization in solids, the formation of snowflakes or hailstones in the atmosphere, and growth of magnetic domains in certain materials. Each such process begins with one or more small "nuclei," which may disappear or grow, depending on the environment in which they form. We apply the theory to predict when spatial clusters of an invading biological species will disappear, or when clusters will grow, combine and alter the native ecological community. Conducting the research will further allow us to introduce questions in biology to physics students, and to train biology students in quantitative methods.