RUI: Testing metacommunity models in forested vernal wetlands using a multi-taxa, multi-year approach

许多自然区域作为更大的发达景观中的栖息地持续存在。由于局部灭绝、斑块之间的扩散和物种之间的相互作用，这些斑块中的物种群落随着时间的推移而波动。元群落理论是一个组织框架，用于理解群落网络是如何聚集和变化的，并可以帮助资源管理者做出关于栖息地和物种保护的决策。然而，在与保护问题相关的田野尺度上，有强烈的需要测试元群落理论。这个项目考察了森林覆盖的春季湿地，这为检验元群落理论提供了理想的系统。春季湿地可能会在春季泛滥，每年都会完全干涸，并且经常含有适应这些独特环境条件的物种。它们往往很小，在地形上很难被发现，但它们为两栖动物和水生昆虫提供了关键的繁殖栖息地。威斯康星州Chippewa Moraine地区的60个湿地将在五年内对昆虫、两栖动物、植物和水化学进行研究，以捕捉环境变化对群落结构的影响。还将评估更多永久性湿地作为春季湿地群落生物体来源的作用。最后，实地实验将深入了解群落历史如何影响物种的存在和丰度。这些研究将有助于确定环境变化、物种相互作用、群落历史和景观位置对群落组成的相对贡献。保护森林覆盖的春季湿地是保护水生生物多样性努力的优先事项，了解元群落在这些独特系统中的功能对于保护它们至关重要。该项目的研究成果将纳入生态景观管理计划，供森林管理者使用。该项目将让大量本科生参与研究经验，并将增加未被充分代表的群体和攻读STEM领域的第一代大学生的数量。

Many natural areas persist as habitat patches within a larger developed landscape. Species communities in these patches fluctuate over time as a consequence of local extinction, dispersal between patches, and interactions between species. Metacommunity theory is an organizing framework for understanding how networks of communities assemble and change, and can help resource managers make decisions about habitat and species conservation. There is a strong need to test metacommunity theory, though, at field scales relevant to conservation questions. This project examines forested vernal wetlands, which provide ideal systems for testing metacommunity theory. Vernal wetlands may flood in the spring and dry completely each year and frequently contain species adapted to these unique environmental conditions. They tend to be small and difficult to detect on the landscape, but they provide critical breeding habitat for amphibians and aquatic insects. Insects, amphibians, plants, and water chemistry will be studied in sixty wetlands within Wisconsin's Chippewa Moraine region over five years in order to capture the effects of environmental variability on community structure. The role of more permanent wetlands as sources of organisms for vernal wetland communities will also be evaluated. Finally, field experiments will provide insight into how community history affects species presence and abundance. These studies will help determine the relative contributions of environmental variation, species interactions, community history, and landscape position on community composition. Conserving forested vernal wetlands is a priority in efforts to protect aquatic biodiversity, and understanding how metacommunities function in these unique systems is critical to protecting them. Research findings from this project will be incorporated into ecological landscape management plans for use by forest managers. The project will involve numerous undergraduates in research experiences and will increase the number of under-represented groups and first-generation college students pursuing STEM fields.