The importance of biotic interactions for demography, niches and geographical ranges of South African Proteaceae (InterNiche)

一个基本的，但在很大程度上没有回答的问题，在生态学是如何生物体之间的相互作用影响的人口统计性能，生态位和地理范围的物种在大的空间尺度。在这里，我们解决这个问题，从南非Fynbos生物群落的Proteaceae家族的灌木。我们建立在以前的一个项目，收集了大量的数据集的人口统计学，功能性状和生物环境的大规模变化，并开发了基于过程的统计模型，使用这些数据来推断26个物种的实现生态位。实现生态位是一组环境，在这些环境中，一个物种可以在相互作用的物种存在的情况下形成稳定的种群。在本项目中，我们将大大扩展数据集和统计模型，以解决三个主要问题：（1）生物相互作用和物理环境之间的相互作用如何影响关键人口比率的大规模变化（繁殖和死亡），（2）植物功能性状如何塑造生物相互作用和人口对物理环境的反应，生物相互作用在多大程度上改变了物种的生态位和地理范围。通过回答这些问题，该项目将对基本生态概念和理论进行新颖的大规模测试。特别是，我们将使用人口统计学的第一原理来量化物种的大规模基本生态位（在没有相互作用的物种的情况下，物种可以形成稳定种群的环境）。然后，我们将对比基本的和实现的生态位，以量化生物相互作用对物种的大规模性能和地理范围的影响。总之，这个项目将产生新的见解物种的相互作用和共存在地理尺度。因此，它将为理解大规模生物多样性动态做出重大贡献。

A fundamental, yet largely unanswered, question in ecology is how biotic interactions among organisms affect the demographic performance, ecological niches and geographic ranges of species at large spatial scales. Here, we address this question for shrubs of the Proteaceae family from the South African Fynbos biome. We build on a previous project that assembled an extensive dataset on large-scale variation in demography, functional traits and biotic environments, and that developed process-based statistical models which use these data to infer the realized niches of 26 species. The realized niche is the set of environments in which a species can form stable populations in the presence of interacting species. In the present project, we will considerably extend the dataset and the statistical models to address three major questions: (1) how does the interplay between biotic interactions and the physical environment affect large-scale variation in key demographic rates (reproduction and mortality), (2) how do plant functional traits shape biotic interactions and demographic responses to the physical environment, and (3) to what extent do biotic interactions alter the ecological niches and geographic ranges of species. By answering these questions, the project will conduct novel, large-scale tests of foundational ecological concepts and theories. In particular, we will use first principles of demography to quantify the large-scale fundamental niches of species (the set of environments in which a species can form stable populations in the absence of interacting species). We will then contrast fundamental and realized niches to quantify the impact of biotic interactions on the large-scale performance and geographic ranges of species. In summary, this project will yield new insights into the interaction and coexistence of species at biogeographical scales. It will thus make substantial contributions to the understanding of large-scale biodiversity dynamics.