RCN: Ecological and Evolutionary Effects of Extinction and Ecosystem Engineers (E6)

生态系统工程师是改变它们生活环境的有机体，可以为其他类群创造或消除栖息地。因此，生态系统工程师可以成为当地和区域多样性的重要推动力。我们自己的物种--人类--提供了一个强有力的例子。人类采取的行为创造、修改和/或破坏了各种各样的动植物使用的栖息地。这些活动的影响正在导致生态系统结构和功能的戏剧性变化，以及目前被称为“第六次大灭绝”的全球生物多样性危机。因此，人类活动的一些后果可以与与大规模灭绝相关的环境扰动相媲美，而另一些可能正在创造新的生态机会。因此，一个关键的问题是：随着我们继续改变全球环境，人类生态系统工程行为将产生什么影响？这一研究协调网络将把生态学家和古生物学家聚集在一起，综合不同类型生物系统中生态系统工程师在不同时间的影响信息，以开发预测模型，预测人类活动将如何影响生态系统。研究人员还将通过与当地社区大学的合作伙伴关系、成员机构同时教授的本科课程和会议工作室，开展旨在增加STEM领域多样性的外联活动。预测我们的活动影响的关键可能在于过去。虽然人类是最新出现的具有强大影响的生态系统工程师之一，但他们并不是第一个。生物群体的进化，如氧化光合作用蓝藻、能够在沉积物表面下挖洞的海洋动物、各种造礁生物和陆地植物，都被认为对全球生物多样性产生了巨大影响。这个研究协调网络将综合近6亿年进化历史上的现有数据，以解决以下问题：1)新的生态系统工程师对群落的影响在多大程度上是可预测的？以及，2)我们期望人类在多大程度上继续推动第六次大灭绝，和/或创造新的生态和进化机会？E6 RCN将联合来自古生物学、地质学、生态学、统计学、保育和系统发育学领域的科学家，对比生态系统工程师的生态和进化后果。活动将包括每年两次的研讨会和对研究生、博士后和教职员工的培训。研究人员将与加州大学古生物学博物馆合作，为湾区社区大学的学生开发和运营一个古植物学和古气候学实验室。一门关于灭绝和生态系统工程师的跨学科课程将同时在参与机构教授，并将为国内和国际会议开发一个关于在大空间和时间尺度上研究生态系统工程师和群落生态学的方法的研讨会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ecosystem engineers are organisms that change the environment in which they live, and can create or eliminate habitats for other taxa. Ecosystem engineers therefore can be important drivers of local and regional diversity. Our own species – humans – offer a powerful example. Humans have adopted behaviors that have created, modified, and/or destroyed habitats used by a wide variety of animals and plants. The effects of these activities are leading to dramatic changes in the structure and function of ecosystems, and the current global biodiversity crisis that has been termed the ‘6th mass extinction’. Thus, some consequences of human activities are comparable to the environmental perturbations associated with mass extinctions, whereas others may be creating new ecological opportunities. A key question is therefore: what effect will human ecosystem engineering behaviors have as we continue to modify the global environment? This Research Coordination Network will bring together ecologists and paleontologists to synthesize information on the effects of ecosystem engineers in different kinds of biological systems at different times to develop predictive models for how human activity is expected to affect ecosystems. The researchers will also conduct outreach activities designed to increase diversity in STEM fields using partnerships with local community colleges, an undergraduate course taught concurrently at member institutions, and a conference workshop.The key to predicting the effects our activities may lie in the past. Although humans are among the most recently emerged ecosystem engineers with powerful effects, they are not the first. The evolution of biological groups such as oxygenic photosynthesizing cyanobacteria, marine animals capable of burrowing beneath the sediment surface, a wide variety of reef-building organisms and land plants are all thought to have had dramatic effects on global biodiversity. This Research Coordination Network will synthesize existing data across nearly 600 million years of evolutionary history to address the questions: 1) to what extent are the effects of new ecosystem engineers on communities predictable? And, 2) to what extent do we expect humans to continue to drive the 6th mass extinction, and/or create new ecological and evolutionary opportunities? The E6 RCN will unite scientists from the fields of paleobiology, geology, ecology, statistics, conservation, and phylogenetics to contrast the ecological and evolutionary consequences of ecosystem engineers. Activities will include twice yearly workshops and training of graduate students, postdocs, and faculty. In partnership with the University of California Museum of Paleontology, researchers will develop and run a paleobotany and paleoclimatology lab for Bay Area community college students. An interdisciplinary course on Extinction and Ecosystem engineers will be taught concurrently at participant institutions, and a workshop on approaches for studying ecosystem engineers and community ecology at large spatial and temporal scales will be developed for national and international conferences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.