Spatial determinants of food web structure and function, from landscape to global scales

食物网是如何随空间变化的？一方面，由于当地环境的差异或有限的扩散，遥远的食物网可能包含不同的物种。食物网的这种差异可能是极端的，当它们相距如此之远，以至于来自不同的物种库。另一方面，即使物种组成不同，物种的特征可能保持不变，因此食物网以相同的方式“运作”。解决空间对食物网结构和功能的影响，对于了解大规模压力源（如气候变化、森林破碎化）如何影响食物网至关重要。为了解决空间如何影响食物网的问题，我们需要（a）在景观和大陆尺度上重复实验，以确定扩散或地理学如何改变物种或特征;（B）使这种重复的食物网暴露于环境变化，如气候变化和扩散减少，如孤立的森林片段;以及（c）在不同地点之间移植物种或甚至食物网，以将物种特征的地点差异与环境分开。

How do food webs change over space? One the one hand, distant food webs may contain different species because of differences in the local environment or limited dispersal. Such differences in food webs may be extreme when they are so far apart as to draw from different species pools. On the other hand, even though species composition differs, the traits of the species may remain the same, such that food webs “work” the same way. Resolving the effects of space on the structure and functioning of food webs is critical for understanding how large-scale stressors (e.g. climate change, forest fragmentation) affect food webs. To resolve how space affects food webs, we need to (a) replicate experiments over landscape and continental scales, to determine how dispersal or biogeography changes species or traits; (b) expose such replicated food webs to environmental change, like altered climate, and reduced dispersal, such as occurs in isolated forest fragments; and (c) transplant species or even food webs between sites, to separate site-differences in species traits from the environment.