Trait-based community assembly / Assemblage des communautés par des traits

一个植物物种群落是由所有这些物种一起生活在一个足够小的区域内，使这些物种的个体能够相互作用。决定哪些物种不会在一起被发现，哪些物种会在一起被发现，以及这些物种中哪些是优势或稀有的“规则”被称为“组合规则”。这项研究计划的目的是测试和完善我之前开发的一个数学模型，该模型以数学形式指定了这些装配规则。该模型采用统计物理（最大熵形式）方法，利用植物功能性状的群落平均值。这些平均性状来源于自然选择原理和数量遗传学。该模型的一个重要扩展是将其扩展到生态系统过程，如分解率、碳循环和营养物质的吸收。因此，这个拟议的综合研究计划结合了生理和功能生态学、统计物理学（最大熵形式主义）、数量遗传学和群落生态学的方法和结果。完成后，它将提供群落和生态系统过程的定量预测。

A community of plant species consists of all those species occurring together in an area small enough to allow individuals of these species to interact. The "rules" that determine which species will not be found together, which will be found together, and which of these species will be dominant or rare, are termed "assembly rules". The objective of this research program is to test and refine a mathematical model that I have previously developed that specifies these assembly rules in mathematical form. The model uses a method from statistical physics (Maximum Entropy Formalism) using community-averaged values of plant functional traits. These average traits are derived from the principle of natural selection and from quantitative genetics. One important extension of the model is to extend it to ecosystem processes such as decomposition rates, carbon cycling and nutrient leeching. As such, this proposed synthetic research program incorporates methods and results from physiological and functional ecology, from statistical physics (Maximum Entropy Formalism), from quantitative genetics, and from community ecology. When completed, it will provide quantitative predictions of community and ecosystem processes.