NSFDEB-NERC: Diversity, Disturbance and Invasion. Using experimental microcosms to illuminate ecological theory

生物入侵对农业、流行病学和环境保护具有重大的经济和环境影响，但我们目前对相关过程的理解受到孤立研究因果驱动因素的阻碍，在很大程度上忽视了快速进化。在这里，我们的目标是利用微生物的实验种群，结合相关的理论和模拟议程，研究：1)干扰和多样性的独立和组合操纵对入侵成功的影响；以及2)对干扰机制的预适应在调节入侵抵抗中的作用。这种理论和经验相结合的方法将极大地提高我们对干扰和多样性在调节入侵中所起作用的概念性理解。

Biological invasions have major economic and environmental impacts on agriculture, epidemiology and conservation, yet our current understanding of the processes involved is hampered by studying causal drivers in isolation and largely ignoring rapid evolution. Here, we aim to use experimental populations of microbes, combined with a related theoretical and modeling agenda, to study: 1) the effect of independent, and combined, manipulation of disturbance and diversity on invasion success; and 2) the role of pre-adaptation to disturbance regimes in mediating invasion resistance. This integrated theoretical-empirical approach will greatly improve our conceptual understanding of the role disturbance and diversity play in mediating invasion.