Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of habitat selection.

我的研究计划旨在开发和测试理论，可以预测栖息地和栖息地变化对自然种群和生态群落的未来后果。为了做到这一点，我们必须了解生态和进化条件，使一些物种入侵现有的社区，而其他人则失败。更一般地说，物种代表了进化策略，其入侵或抵抗入侵的能力，与其他物种的社区取决于有多少个体参与（密度），以及每个物种的相对比例（频率）（策略）。我的团队将使用栖息地选择来探索这种替代策略的入侵潜力。栖息地选择是评估进化策略的合适竞技场，因为选择一个栖息地而不是另一个的价值1，随着密度而贬值，2，取决于其他个体的选择。我们的研究将利用三个不同的模型系统。我们将开始短期的实地实验，操纵不同密度和类型的啮齿动物使用的邻近栖息地的质量。该系统旨在确定一种行为（觅食）是否可以用来评估另一种行为（栖息地选择）的价值和稳定性。我们将补充第二个模型系统在实验室评估进化的健身现场实验。实验室实验将使用节肢动物（跳虫），其短生命周期使我们能够测试竞争栖息地选择策略之间的种群增长率（适应性）差异。我们的第三个模型利用了对白足小鼠持续32年的实地研究。我们将使用这个显着的时间序列来评估栖息地和栖息地选择的变化是否会导致密度，人口统计和生活史（健身）的变化。我们的三管齐下的方法应该使我们不仅能够测试适应性进化的关键理论，而且还能够获得洞察力，使我们能够预测栖息地的变化可能如何影响未来的生物多样性。

My research program aims to develop and test theories that can predict the future consequences of habitat and habitat change on natural populations and ecological communities. In order to do so, we must understand the ecological and evolutionary conditions that allow some species to invade existing communities while others fail. More generally, species represent evolutionary strategies whose ability to invade, or resist invasion from, communities with other species depends on how many individuals are involved (density), and the relative proportions (frequency) of each species (strategy). My team will use habitat selection in order to probe the invasion potential of such alternative strategies. Habitat selection is a suitable arena for assessing evolutionary strategies because the value of choosing one habitat over another 1, depreciates with density, and 2, depends on the choices made by other individuals. Our studies will capitalize on three different model systems.We will begin with short-term field experiments manipulating the quality of adjacent habitats used by differing densities and types of rodents. This system is designed to determine whether one type of behaviour (foraging) can be used to assess the value and stability of another (habitat selection). We will complement the field experiments with a second model system assessing evolutionary fitness in the laboratory. The lab experiments will use arthropods (springtails) whose short life cycles allow us to test for differences in population growth rates (fitness) between competing habitat-selection strategies. Our third model takes advantage of a continuing 32-yr field study on white-footed mice. We will use this remarkable time-series to assess whether changes in habitat and habitat selection cause changes in density, demography, and life history (fitness). Our three-pronged approach should enable us to not only test crucial theories on adaptive evolution, but to also garner insights that will allow us to predict how changes in habitat are likely to impinge on future biodiversity.