RUI: The interaction of scale, habitat, and dispersal limitation in Great Lakes shoreline plant communities

当地环境因素（例如，土壤化学、光）与植物的特性相互作用，影响群落中物种的丰富度。扩散也可以影响物种组成，但如果它是一个相对罕见的事件，可能会更随机的影响。环境因素和扩散的相对重要性，以及它们的作用在不同空间尺度上可能发生变化的方式，并不为人所知。密歇根湖岛屿上的植物群落将被用作一个模型系统，以测试在各种空间尺度上确定植物群落组成的环境因素与扩散的相对重要性。三个克隆“植物计”物种的个体将被种植到原生海岸线环境中，并监测两个生长季节。植物性能随距离变化的程度将指示植物？环境中栖息地异质性的观点。物种面积的关系将被分析的斜坡，在植物相关的（而不是人类定义的）栖息地因素的变化的指示。为了补充实地研究，一个模拟的植物群落与已知程度的栖息地排序和扩散限制将使用各种设计进行采样，并使用目前在文献中争论的几种方法进行分析。 该项目将为其他生态社区的类似方法建立方法，以促进对这一重要生态问题的比较和推广。 更广泛的影响包括在本科院校约十名学生的研究经验。科学结果将通过电子附录提供，并在网上公布，供比较分析和教育之用。将开发一个植物群落模拟程序，并免费提供给生态学家用于教学和研究。

Local environmental factors (e.g., soil chemistry, light) interact with the characteristics of plants to influence the abundance of species in a community. Dispersal can also influence species composition, but may be much more stochastic in its effect if it is a relatively uncommon event. The relative importance of environmental factors and dispersal, and the way that their roles may change at different spatial scales, is not well known. Plant communities on islands in Lake Michigan will be used as a model system to test the relative importance of environmental factors versus dispersal in determining plant community composition at a variety of spatial scales. Individuals of three clonal 'phytometer' species will be planted into the native shoreline environment and monitored for two growing seasons. The degree to which plant performance varies with distance will indicate the plant?s eye view of habitat heterogeneity in the environment. Species-area relationships will be analyzed for breaks in the slope, an indication of changes in plant-relevant (instead of human-defined) habitat factors. To complement field studies, a simulated plant community with known degrees of habitat sorting and dispersal limitation will be sampled using a variety of designs, and analyzed using several methods currently debated in the literature. The project will establish methods for similar approaches in other ecological communities to facilitate comparison and generalization of this important ecological question. The broader impacts include research experiences for about ten students at an undergraduate institution. The scientific results will be available via electronic appendices and posted on-line for comparative analyses, as well as educational uses. A plant community simulation program will be developed and made freely available to ecologists for use in teaching and research.