NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2012

空间异质性如何缓冲植物群落对气候变化的影响？自然环境的空间异质性在驱动许多生态模式和过程中起着关键作用，最近被认为是缓冲一些社区应对气候变化的重要因素。然而，空间异质性赋予时间稳定性的具体机制尚不清楚。本文将利用野外实验和经验模型来检验两类机制，以了解空间异质性如何缓冲群落对气候变化的影响。一些缓冲机制可能独立于物种相互作用而起作用，例如当异质性为物种提供物理避难所时。另外，在竞争性相互作用构成的群落中，空间异质性可能通过一类涉及物种共存机制的机制来缓冲群落。本项目将通过每年在蛇形草地进行的实地试验和用试验数据参数化的模拟模型来测试这些机制的相对重要性。该奖学金将支持博士后在研究和教学方面的培训。专业培训将包括使用现代统计程序（如R）和当前建模方法进行广泛的分析。除了参加教学研讨会和课程以提高教学技能外，该研究员还将教授核心课程，并担任主办机构犹他州立大学本科生和研究生的导师。另一个有希望的社区外展途径是参加关于山艾草草原植物群落气候变化的分布式研究生研讨会。最后，该研究员将继续为K-12科学教育项目“儿童探索科学”（Kids）提供后勤和长期规划支持。

How can spatial heterogeneity buffer plant communities against climate change?Spatial heterogeneity in the physical environment plays a critical role in driving many ecological patterns and processes and has recently been implicated as an important factor responsible for buffering some communities against climate change. However, the specific mechanism by which spatial heterogeneity confers temporal stability remains unclear. Here, field experiments and empirical models will be used to test two classes of mechanisms for how spatial heterogeneity might buffer communities against climate change. Some buffering mechanisms may operate independently of species interactions, such as when heterogeneity provides physical refugia for species. Alternatively, in communities structured by competitive interactions, spatial heterogeneity might buffer communities via a class of mechanism involving species coexistence mechanisms. This project will test the relative importance of these mechanisms using field experiments in annual serpentine grasslands and simulation models parameterized with data collected from the experiments. This NSF fellowship will support postdoctoral training in research and teaching. Professional training will include extensive analyses using modern statistical programs, such as R, and current modeling approaches. In addition to participating in teaching seminars and course to improve pedagogical skills, the Fellow will teach core courses and serve as a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students at the host institution, Utah State University. Another promising avenue for community outreach is through participation in Distributed Graduate Seminars on climate change in the sagebrush steppe plant community. Finally, the Fellow will continue to provide logistical and long-term planning support to the K-12 science education program, Kids into Discovering Science (KiDS).