Niche evolution and trophic diversity in birds and mammals

营养生态位是生态系统功能的核心。它通常是根据饮食和生物相互作用网络来定义的，但也跨越了多个进一步的维度，包括微生境、气候和行为。以往的研究倾向于简化或忽略营养生态位的维度，这主要是因为缺乏宏观生态尺度上的相关数据。随着最近全球数据集的完成，包括鸟类和哺乳动物的饮食和觅食策略，这种情况发生了变化。该项目将采取几种并行的方法，从进化和宏观生态的角度来探索这些数据集。这项研究将集中在鸟类和哺乳动物上，因为它们在生态上具有重要意义，并且在地理分布、系统发育和营养生态位方面相对广为人知。学生将有机会接触到气候变化下现有的未来范围预测，以及土地利用变化对全球生物多样性影响的预测数据库。将食物、微生境和觅食行为作为营养生态位的关键维度，主要研究目标如下：1)应用进化模型和系统发育比较分析来评估营养生态位如何在鸟类和哺乳动物之间进化和分化。2)将营养生态位数据集与土地利用变化和气候变化情景相结合，以了解全球范围内营养结构和功能的模式和预测因素。3)开发具有更高准确性的生物多样性指标和生态预测模型，并将其应用于环境政策。

The trophic niche lies at the heart of ecosystem function. It is often defined in terms of diet and networks of biotic interactions, but also spans multiple further dimensions including microhabitat, climate and behaviour. Previous research has tended to simplify or overlook the dimensionality of trophic niches largely because relevant data are lacking at macroecological scales. This has changed with the recent completion of global datasets, including diet and foraging strategy for birds and mammals. This project will take several parallel approaches to explore these datasets from an evolutionary and macroecological perspective. The research will focus on birds and mammals because they are ecologically important and relatively well known in terms of geographic distribution, phylogeny, and trophic niches. The student will have access to existing future range projections under climate change, as well as the PREDICTS database of land-use change impacts on global biodiversity. Focusing on diet, microhabitat and foraging behaviour as key dimensions of the trophic niche, the main research goals are as follows: 1) Applying evolutionary models and phylogenetic comparative analyses to assess how trophic niches have evolved and diverged across birds and mammals. 2) Integrating trophic niche datasets with land-use change and climate change scenarios to understand patterns and predictors of trophic structure and functioning at global scales. 3) Developing biodiversity indicators and ecological forecasting models with improved accuracy and applications to environmental policy.