Scaling up from local experiments to large complex landscapes:

Patches, corridors, and the dispersal of insects and plants

Project Overview

This project represents the collaborative efforts of 4 principal investigators (Nick Haddad, N. Carolina St. U; Doug Levey, U. Florida; Sarah Sargent, Allegheny College; Brent Danielson, Iowa St. U.) to link the behavioral responses of animals to the spatial distributions and abundances of plants and animals across a large (770 sq. km) and heterogeneous landscape in Southeastern North America. We will assess these behaviors experimentally in large replicated landscapes designed explicitly for us by the USFS. We then intend to develop a models of movement by butterflies and birds predict how these insects and bird-dispersed plants should be distributed across the coniferous forest found on the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This project is being funded by the National Science Foundation and supported by the US Forest Service at Savannah River National Forest.

We have been working on landscape and metapopulation dynamics of free-ranging species on the Savannah River Site for a number of years. The photo on the right shows some of the experimental corridors that we have used in the past (see complete map in Haddad 1999, Ecological Applications). We also have other related projects on-going or recently completed. You can learn more about those at our personal home pages listed below. You can also reach us individually, or collectively via email. Roughly the PIs's interests and involvement in this project are broken out as: Nick will lead with the butterfly work. Doug and Sarah will lead the butterfly work, and Brent will lead the modeling effort. However, all PIs will be involved in the other aspects as well. All four collaborators can also be reached simultaneously by email. We look forward to hearing from you.