Award Abstract #9981926
Theory for Community Dynamics in Spatially and Temporally Variable Environments

NSF Org:	DEB Division of Environmental Biology
Initial Amendment Date:	June 3, 2000
Latest Amendment Date:	June 3, 2000
Award Number:	9981926
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Susan J. Mazer DEB Division of Environmental Biology BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	May 15, 2000
Expires:	April 30, 2004 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$170000
Investigator(s):	Peter Chesson pchesson@u.arizona.edu (Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	University of California-Davis OR/Sponsored Programs Davis, CA 95618 530/747-3838
NSF Program(s):	COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS, STATISTICS, APPLIED MATHEMATICS, PROBABILITY, ECOLOGY
Field Application(s):	0510301 Structure & Function
Program Reference Code(s):	EGCH,9169
Program Element Code(s):	1271,1269,1266,1263,1182

ABSTRACT

Peter Chesson

DEB-9981926

Mathematical models of species competing in space and time will be

studied using a combination of analytical, simulation, and numerical

methods. Three specific sorts of natural community will form foci of

this work: annual plants with persistence seed banks (especially those

found in arid environments), perennial herbs that spread spatially by

vegetative means, and long-lived perennial organisms that do not have

vegetative spread but have multiple reproductive events in the life of

an individual (iteroparity). The research will examine how life-history

traits, such as those defining these different communities, interact

with environmental variation in space and time and affect coexistence of

species and therefore affect maintenance of species diversity. In

addition to the features distinguishing the above systems, important

factors are expected to be mode of dispersal of offspring, distance of

dispersal, and spatial and temporal scales of competition between

individual organisms. This work will extend to the spatial domain

previous findings on the role of temporal environmental variation and

its interactions with life-history traits on the maintenance of species

diversity.

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