Collaborative Research: Ecosystem Consequences of Extinction: Quantifying the Ecological effects of Catastrophic Amphibian Dclines in Neotropical Streams

两栖动物是水生和陆生栖息地的重要组成部分，可以代表两者之间的重要能量联系，特别是在多样性和丰度最大的热带地区。然而，世界各地的两栖动物数量正在急剧下降，即使在偏远的热带地区也发生了灾难性的损失。物种的减少通常会导致一个地点超过75%的两栖动物消失，特别是在溪流中繁殖的物种，在过去20年中，有13个拉丁美洲国家报告了大规模的损失。这项研究将通过调查这些损失如何影响河流结构和功能，包括生物多样性，生产力，养分循环以及河流和森林之间的能量和养分交换，评估两栖动物减少的生态后果。这将通过在疾病导致的下降发生之前和之后对位于巴拿马沿着一个移动的疾病前沿的溪流进行深入检查来实现。这项研究解决了一个紧迫的，全球性的问题，并将提供重要的信息，了解灭绝的生态后果和生物多样性的丧失，八个？大挑战？以及国家研究理事会推荐的环境科学研究的四个重点领域。了解生物多样性灾难性减少和灭绝事件可能产生的大规模和深远后果，将有助于在全球生物多样性下降的情况下更准确地预测生态功能。

Amphibians are important components of aquatic and terrestrial habitats and can represent an important energetic link between the two, particularly in the tropics where diversity and abundance are greatest. However, amphibian populations are declining dramatically around the world, with catastrophic losses occurring even in remote, undisturbed regions of the tropics. Declines often result in the disappearance of over 75% of amphibians at a site, particularly species that breed in streams, and massive losses are reported from 13 Latin American countries in the last 20 years. This research will assess the ecological consequences of amphibian declines by investigating how these losses affect stream structure and function, including biodiversity, productivity, nutrient cycling, and energy and nutrient exchanges between streams and forests. This will be accomplished through intensive examinations of streams located along a moving disease front in Panama before and after disease-driven declines occur. This research addresses an urgent, global problem and will provide information critical for understanding the ecological consequences of extinction and the loss of biodiversity, one of the eight ?grand challenges? and four focal areas of research in the environmental sciences recommended by the National Research Council. Understanding the potential large-scale and far-reaching consequences of catastrophic reductions in biodiversity and extinction events such as these will allow for more accurate predicting of ecological function in light of declining global biodiversity.