Causes, consequences and maintenance of niche variation in systems with humans and other predators

包括人类在内的所有生物都是通过利用来自共同环境的资源而结合在一起的。然而，由于与其他物种的竞争，每个物种都占据了自己的生态位（或特定的资源集合）。几十年来，对生态位在物种间变化的方式和原因的理解一直主导着相关研究，而现在，新兴的研究表明，生态位在物种内部组织水平上的变化。不同的种群，甚至种群中的不同个体，都可以开拓出自己的一套资源。这对这些生物所面临的进化环境，以及它们的外观、行为和与其他生物的互动都有着巨大的影响。不太确定的是，什么样的过程可以塑造、重新塑造和维持生态位的变化，而生态位是生物多样性的关键组成部分。我们的实验室对大型和自然破碎的景观如何影响大型哺乳动物捕食者从物种到个体水平的食物生态位变化感兴趣。此外，我们还研究了最具影响力的哺乳动物捕食者——人类——的生态位，以及自然界中猎人和渔民对其竞争对手和猎物的影响。我们的研究计划由野生动物野外系统和几个以数据库为重点的项目组成。在野外，我们研究狼、黑熊和灰熊如何相互竞争，并最终与鲑鱼渔业竞争鲑鱼，这是一种关键的核心资源。我们期望了解到，每个参与者所占据的生态位将是我们大陆和群岛研究区域竞争发生的地方以及渔业收获水平的函数。我们的数据库项目不仅考察了渔业的全球影响，还考察了生存和休闲狩猎的全球影响。我们希望揭示“人类捕食者”的生态位有多独特，以及它如何影响许多其他生物的生态和进化。

All living organisms, including humans, are united by their use of resources from a common environment. As a result of competition with other species, however, each species occupies its own niche (or specific set of resources). Whereas understanding how and why niches vary among species has dominated related research for decades, emerging work is now showing variation in niche at levels of organization within species. Different populations, and even different individuals within population, can carve out their own set of resources. This has enormous implications to the evolutionary environments these organisms face, and consequently how they look, behave and interact with other living things. What is less certain is what processes can shape, re-shape and maintain this variation in niche, which is a critical component of biodiversity.Our lab is interested in how large and naturally fragmented landscapes influence variation in food niches from the species to individual levels in large mammalian predators. Additionally, we study the niche of the most influential mammalian predator of all - human beings - and the effects hunters and fishers have on their competitors and prey in the natural world.Our research program is comprised of a wildlife field system and several database-focused projects. In the field we study how wolves, black bears and grizzly bears compete with one another - and ultimately with salmon fisheries - for salmon, which is a critical central resource. We expect to learn that the niches occupied by each participant will be a function of where competition takes place across our mainland and archipelago study area, as well as the harvest levels of fisheries. Our database projects examine the global influence of not only fisheries but also subsistence and recreational hunting. We expect to reveal just how unique the niche of the "human predator" is, and how it might shape the ecology and evolution of many other organisms.