An Undergraduate Network for Analyzing Plant Invasion in U.S. National Wildlife Refuges - A Workshop Proposal

保护政策在很大程度上是基于这样一个想法，即生态保护区可以保护无法在人类主导的地区生存的物种。不幸的是，入侵物种，包括杂草、森林害虫，以及猫和老鼠等野生捕食者，都不尊重保护区的边界。它们可以在保护区内建立，并取代或消耗保护区旨在保护的本土物种。因此，了解促进入侵物种在保护区内传播的因素对保护生物学来说是一个关键问题。来自全国各地的本科生生态和保护生物学课程的学生将汇编他们所在地区国家野生动物保护区内入侵植物的数据。这些课程将使用这些数据来分析倾向于促进或抑制植物入侵的因素，以及这些因素在不同地区之间的差异程度。除了增加我们对入侵物种的影响和控制的了解外，这个项目也有很强的教育成分。八个班级的200多名学生将有机会参与一个大陆规模的生态研究项目。所有这些学生都将在科学和保护政策的界面上获得数据分析和数据管理的经验。NSF的资助将支持每个班级的一名学生和一名教师前往国家生态分析与合成中心的密集研讨会。在这次研讨会上，每个小组将介绍其区域分析的结果。研讨会参与者随后将完成对所有课程的汇集数据的分析，并创建国家野生动物保护区入侵植物的数据库。该数据库将提供给野生动物管理人员和其他研究人员，以支持管理工作和未来关于入侵植物传播到保护区的研究。

Much of conservation policy is predicated on the idea that ecological reserves can protect species that cannot survive in human-dominated areas. Unfortunately, invasive species, including weeds, forest pests, and feral predators like cats and rats, don't respect reserve boundaries. They may establish within reserves and displace or consume the native species that the reserves were designed to protect. Understanding the factors that promote the spread of invasive species within protected areas is therefore a critical issue for conservation biology. Students in undergraduate Ecology and Conservation Biology classes from across the country will compile data on invasive plants in the National Wildlife Refuges within their own region. The classes will use these data to analyze the factors that tend to promote or inhibit plant invasions and the extent to which these factors vary from one region to the next. In addition to increasing our understanding of impacts of and controls on invasive species, this project also has a strong educational component. More than 200 students in eight classes will have the opportunity to participate in a continental-scale ecological research project. All of these students will gain experience in data analysis and data management at the interface of science and conservation policy. NSF funding will support travel of one student and one instructor from each class to an intensive workshop at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. At this workshop, each group will present the results of their regional analysis. Workshop participants will then complete an analysis of the pooled data from all the classes and create a database on invasive plants in National Wildlife Refuges. This database will be available to wildlife managers and other researchers, supporting management efforts and future research on the spread of invasive plants into protected areas.