DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Disentangling local and regional processes operating in a simple metacommunity

了解维持生物多样性的过程对生态学家和自然资源保护主义者至关重要。在空间结构的生境中，从潮汐池到森林碎片，解释物种分布和丰度的模式需要调查在不同空间尺度上发生的过程。在当地，捕食和竞争的相互作用影响栖息地内的物种存在。在区域上，扩散和殖民化影响物种在不同生境的存在。这两个尺度的过程可能有助于在自然界中观察到的多样性和分布模式，但是，它们的相对重要性还没有得到很好的理解。这项研究将评估当地和区域进程对当地社区之间变化模式的贡献。正在调查的群落由四种与红眼树蛙卵群有关的昆虫组成：一种吃青蛙卵的社会黄蜂;两种幼虫寄生卵群的苍蝇;以及一种攻击苍蝇幼虫的寄生蜂。研究将研究1）在当地，竞争和寄生如何影响从卵块中出现的昆虫的身份和丰度，2）在区域上，食卵黄蜂（对苍蝇有吸引力）造成的损害以及卵块的空间排列如何影响昆虫的殖民地。这项研究填补了一个重要的空白，我们的理解如何当地的相互作用和空间动态联合收割机相结合，以解释模式的分布和丰富。 本论文培养了一名博士生以及来自美国和拉丁美洲的助理。研究结果将广泛传播给科学受众，并用于美国和巴拿马的公共宣传和教育演示。

Understanding the processes that maintain biodiversity is of fundamental importance to ecologists and conservationists. In spatially structured habitats, ranging from tidal pools to forest fragments, explaining patterns of species distribution and abundance requires investigation of processes occurring at different spatial scales. Locally, predatory and competitive interactions affect species presence within habitats. Regionally, dispersal and colonization influence species presence across habitats. Processes at both scales likely contribute to the patterns of diversity and distribution observed in nature, however, their relative importance is not well understood. This study will evaluate the contributions of local and regional processes to patterns of variation among local communities. The community under investigation consists of four insects associated with red-eyed treefrog egg masses: a social wasp that eats frog eggs; two flies whose larvae infest egg masses; and a parasitoid wasp that attacks fly larvae. Research will examine 1) locally, how competition and parasitism influence the identity and abundance of insects emerging from egg masses and 2) regionally, how damage caused by egg-eating wasps (which is attractive to flies) and the spatial arrangement of egg masses influence where insects colonize. This research fills an important gap in our understanding of how local interactions and spatial dynamics combine to explain patterns of distribution and abundance. This dissertation trains one doctoral student as well as assistants from the US and Latin America. Results will be broadly disseminated to scientific audiences and used in public outreach and educational presentations in the US and in Panama.