Sedgwick Reserve

30 Sep, 05 PM - 21 Oct, 05 PM

I propose to investigate the ecological mechanisms that promote biodiversity using the plant-insect community inhabiting the serpentine environment in the Sedgwick Natural Reserve. As an initial step, the species diversity and interactions amongst species must be quantified. This requires the identification of plant and insect species within habitat patches in the serpentine environment, quantification of species abundances, and observation of species interactions (e.g. insect herbivore?plant consumer-resource interactions and pollinator-plant mutualistic interactions. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to elucidate the mechanisms (e.g. spatial/temporal niche partitioning) supporting species coexistence and investigate the stability of such mechanisms to perturbations (e.g. species invasion, climate change). This project stands to make contributions by building our understanding of the population dynamics and species interactions of more complex ecological communities and has practical applications via the investigation of the stability of endemic communities to perturbations such as climate change.

Visit #27278 @Sedgwick Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 22790 | Research

Mechanisms of species coexistence in insect communities

graduate_student - University of California, Los Angeles

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Christopher Johnson Sep 30 - Oct 21, 2011 (22 days)

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Day Use Only 1 Oct 1 - 22, 2011