Deutschman Lab Projects
The native ecosystems of San Diego County have been lost and degraded over the last century as the human population has increased. As human impacts continue and as the climate changes, restoring and maintaining resiliency within natural habitats is increasingly important. The loss of species and the reduction in population sizes of native species are likely to result in reduced ecosystem functioning. If a degraded or compromised habitat loses resiliency, future changes will have increasingly detrimental impacts compared to a fully-functional, resilient community.
This project will assess how habitat quality and landscape configuration influences ecosystem resiliency. This information is important to conservation and management efforts, as it identifies the specific role of certain arthropod species and their relative importance. It also demonstrates how environmental characteristics influence ecosystem resiliency and functioning. Understanding how habitat degradation impacts these natural processes could be used to trigger management (e.g. restoration). Maintaining the resiliency of a community is important so that it is able to adjust to climate change as well as other stressors.
Research Tasks
1. Quantify pollination (endangered and common plant species) and decomposition (carcasses, dung) rates resulting from arthropod activities in habitats of varying quality and landscape composition.
2. Describe how the arthropod communities differ in habitats of varying quality and landscape composition, including describing the role of non-native species (e.g. honey bees).
3. Analyze pollination and decomposition rates in relation to habitat quality and landscape configuration, providing vital information on the loss of resiliency, a measure of ecosystem health.
4. Provide information about how community composition and structure affect ecosystem functioning rates to help planning for climate change.
Lead Biologist: Daniel Marschalek
This project is funded by a grant from the Blasker Environmental Grant Program of The San Diego Foundation.
Arthropod Ecosystem Services as Indicators of Ecosystem Health and Resiliency for Conservation Management and Climate Change Planning
