OPUS: ECOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF COMMUNITY DIVERSITY

要保护地球上卓越的生物多样性，最根本的是了解决定当地和区域物种数量和类型的过程。随着人类迅速混合世界生物群，并以越来越快的速度将外来物种引入新的栖息地，这种理解就更加重要了。该项目将综合生态学和进化领域的研究，以填补这一空白。研究结果将大大推进基础研究和保护的一个主要障碍，即更清楚地了解生态多样性如何随着时间的推移而演变。它们还将指导在面临物种引进和外来物种入侵时恢复受保护的生态群落的努力。 从这个综合形式的基础上研究生课程的结果，将被纳入密歇根州立大学的斯巴达自然计划，介绍新生在生物科学研究问题的一部分，并将有助于密歇根科学奥林匹克，促进初中和高中学生在科学学习。教育效益是显著的，因为该项目将向各级学生介绍跨研究领域综合的价值。生物群落的丰富程度和组成在时间和空间上变化巨大，这种变化的原因几十年来一直是生态学研究的主题。群落集合的标准模型是基于物种从区域物种库中的扩散，并通过非生物和生物环境进行过滤，以确定哪些物种成功地在当地定居和共存。然而，这一概念框架忽略了生态和进化过程如何相互作用以产生物种库的问题，区域之间这些库的大小和组成的差异，以及区域物种库的概念是否在生物学上有效。该OPUS奖将支持通过一系列出版物开发合作努力，更好地将物种相互作用的生态学与物种形成的地理学结合起来，以阐明社区多样性的演变。该奖项产生的出版物将广泛影响生态学家和进化生物学家的思想，因为他们解决了有关生态群落进化的基本问题，并将支持研究生培训和研究生教育，其中生态学和进化之间的整合是迫切需要的。

Fundamental to preserving the Earth's remarkable biodiversity is an understanding of the processes that determine the number and types of species found locally and regionally. This understanding is even more critical as humans rapidly mix the world's biota and introduce exotic species to new habitats at an increasing rate. This project will synthesize research in the fields of ecology and evolution to fill this gap. Results will significantly advance a major hurdle in fundamental research and in conservation, which is a clearer understanding of how ecological diversity evolves over time. They will also guide efforts to restore ecological communities of conservation concern in the face of species introductions and the invasion of exotic species. Results from this synthesis form the basis for graduate-level courses, will be incorporated as part of Michigan State University's Sparta Nature Program, which introduces incoming freshmen to research questions in the biological sciences, and will contribute to the Michigan Science Olympiad, which fosters learning in science for middle and high school students. Educational benefits are significant, as the project will introduce students at all levels to the value of synthesis across fields of study.The richness and composition of biological communities vary dramatically in time and space, and the causes of this variation have been the subject of ecological research for decades. The standard model of community assembly is based on the dispersal of species from a regional species pool and filtering by the abiotic and biotic environment to determine which species are successful in colonizing and coexisting at a local site. Ignored in this conceptual framework, however, is the question of how ecological and evolutionary processes interact to generate species pools, differences in the size and composition of these pools among regions, and whether the concept of a regional species pool is biologically valid. This OPUS award will support a collaborative effort to develop, through a series of publications, a synthesis that better incorporates the ecology of species interactions with the geography of speciation to illuminate the evolution of community diversity. Publications resulting from this award will broadly influence thinking by ecologists and evolutionary biologists alike as they address fundamental questions regarding the evolution of ecological communities, and will support graduate training and graduate education, where integration between ecology and evolution is critically needed.