Collaborative Research: Testing a Mechanism for the Productivity-Beta Diversity Relationship in Plants

智力优势：在全球范围内，植物和动物的多样性在降雨和太阳能丰富的地区最高，这些地区通过光合作用产生较高的碳捕获率，称为初级生产力。该项目将分析这一模式的一个以前未被研究的方面，即生产力如何影响植物在不同土壤上的专业化程度，这可以驱动不同地点物种组成的变化。在高产气候条件下，该项目将检验这样一种假设，即不同土壤上的植物群落将高度不同，因为激烈的竞争导致土壤生态位更窄，而在更冷或更干旱的气候条件下，预计植物群落在土壤边界上的差异性较小。这些预测将通过比较化学性质不寻常的土壤（如蛇纹石、石灰石和白云石）上的植物群落，与附近正常土壤上的植物群落，跨越加州和奥扎克地区降雨量高低的梯度，来进行检验。为了更好地理解观察到的模式的机制，将在加利福尼亚州邻近的蛇形和非蛇形植物群落中进行降雨和植物竞争的实验操作。这项研究很重要，因为特定土壤特有的植物物种和群落是全球植物多样性的重要贡献者。我们的研究结果将有助于了解气候如何控制植物多样性、植物群落组成以及植物群落受生物入侵的影响程度。更广泛的影响：来自代表性不足群体的一名研究生和几名本科生将接受该奖项的培训。数据将通过生物复杂性知识网络（knb.ecoinformatics.org）和加州大学自然保护区系统数据登记处的数据档案提供给研究人员、机构科学家和非营利环境组织。

Intellectual merit: Globally, the diversity of plants and animals is highest in regions where rainfall and solar energy are abundant, which yields high rates of carbon capture via photosynthesis termed primary productivity. This project will analyze a previously unexamined aspect of this pattern, namely, how productivity affects the degree to which plants are specialized on different soils, which can drive the variation in species composition among different locations. In productive climates, this project will test the hypothesis that plant communities on different soils will be highly distinct because intensified competition leads to narrower soil niches, whereas in colder or more arid climates less distinctiveness of plant communities across soil boundaries is predicted. These predictions will be tested by comparing plant communities on chemically unusual soils such as serpentine, limestone, and dolomite, to those on nearby normal soils, across gradients of high to low rainfall in California and the Ozarks. To better understand the mechanisms for the observed patterns, experimental manipulations of rainfall and plant competition in neighboring serpentine and non-serpentine plant communities in California will be conducted. This research is important because plant species and communities endemic to particular soils are important contributors to global botanical diversity. Our results will help understand how climate controls plant diversity, plant community composition, and the degree to which plant communities are affected by biological invasions. Broader impacts: A graduate student from an underrepresented group and several undergraduates will be trained with this award. Data will be made available to researchers, agency scientists, and nonprofit environmental groups through the data archives of the Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (knb.ecoinformatics.org) and the UC Natural Reserve System Data Registry.