IRFP: Resistance and resilience in Canadian freshwater fish communities with climate induced species range shifts

国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，以及使用国外独特或互补的设施，专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持博士卡伦M。Alofs与Donald A.杰克逊在加拿大多伦多的多伦多大学。预计气候变化将导致物种分布的变化，从而导致新的物种组合和改变种间的相互作用。 然而，关于气候变化对生物多样性影响的研究往往侧重于对个别物种的直接影响，而忽视了物种间相互作用的作用。 从安大略湖泊收集的历史和现代数据正在被用来研究气候引起的范围变化及其在预计变化最强烈的北方纬度的影响。 该项目经验性地测试预测的范围变化，并研究它们与淡水鱼群落组成的关系。 本研究的三个主要目标是：（1）确认淡水鱼类物种的预测范围变化，包括扩张（2）考察群落组成是否影响这些物种的引入或损失;以及（3）测试范围变化的影响是否因物种或湖泊或鱼类群落的特征而异。有关物种分布和种间相互作用的生态学理论可用于在面对气候变化及其相关影响时做出明智的保护决策入侵物种。 该项目涉及与资源管理人员合作，评估保护和监测优先事项，并教育公众。 这项研究还将通过分析气候引起的范围变化所提供的自然实验，提供对生态过程的见解，包括殖民化，灭绝和社区组装。

The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support an eighteen-month research fellowship by Dr. Karen M. Alofs to work with Dr. Donald A. Jackson at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Climate change is expected to produce shifts in species distributions leading to novel species assemblages and altering interspecific interactions. Studies of the effects of climate change on biodiversity, however, often focus on direct impacts for individual species ignoring the role of species interactions. A collection of historical and modern data from Ontario lakes is being used to study climate induced range shifts and their effects at northern latitudes where changes are predicted to be strongest. This project empirically tests for predicted range shifts and examines their relationship to freshwater fish community composition. Three primary objectives of this study are to (1) confirm predicted range shifts for freshwater fish species, including expansions (introductions) of cool and warmwater species at their northern limits and contractions (losses) of coldwater species at their southern limits; (2) examine whether community composition influences these species introductions or losses; and (3) test whether the impacts of range shifts varies between species or by characteristics of the lake or fish community.Ecological theory regarding species distributions and interspecific interactions can be used to make informed conservation decisions in the face of climate change and the related influences of invasive species. This project involves working with resource managers to evaluate conservation and monitoring priorities and educate the public. This research will also provide insights into ecological processes including colonization, extinction and community assembly by analyzing the natural experiments provided by climate induced range shifts.