Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Living organisms and their habitats vary across space and time. Unraveling the mechanisms involved in complex spatial and temporal patterns in nature is one of the most important intellectual challenges in the science of ecology. Remarkable progress has been made in our understanding of how communities are structured, yet major gaps and related challenges remain. Spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity (resource or non-resource) is widely recognized as a mechanism underlying the structure of ecological communities. To date, work on spatial and temporal heterogeneity has almost exclusively focused on the variance (how much) component. However, similar levels of environmental variation are often structured differently in space (where variation occurs) and time (when variation occurs), likely affecting species distributions and the ways they coexist. There has been limited work on the importance of the spatial and temporal structural components (i.e., covariance or autocorrelation) of environments on the dynamics and patterns of distribution and coexistence of multiple species. The structural components of environmental factors can be directly equated to how abruptly, sharply or smoothly these factors change in time and space. Because species vary in their responses to and abilities to handle spatial and temporal variation in their environments (e.g. dispersal and life history differences), species distributions and their coexistence are affected by how the environments in their landscapes vary and co-vary in space and time. My research program seeks to answer novel and fundamental questions about how the spatial and temporal structure of the environment influences patterns of species coexistence. This line of research also has the potential to i) improve the way ecologists treat inherent temporal and spatial environmental heterogeneity, commonly treated as a nuisance in community analyses; and ii) determine how upcoming predicted changes in climatic heterogeneity in space and time may affect species distributions and communities in the future. This research program will combine large- and small-scale surveys, and experimental and quantitative approaches to quantify how patterns of spatial and temporal structure in the environment affect patterns of community structure and species co-existence. My research team will work on various taxa (birds, fish and mammals) as their ecological differences will allow us to contrast their responses to environmental heterogeneity. The proposed research will provide students with a training environment that builds highly transferable skills in linking conceptual and empirical ecology through field-based, experimental, quantitative and theoretical approaches. This research will also have relevance for our ongoing research with government and industrial partners on climate change and ecosystem services.