Srivastava Diane S, Kolasa Jurek, Bengtsson Jan, Gonzalez Andrew, Lawler Sharon P, Miller Thomas E, Munguia Pablo, Romanuk Tamara, Schneider David C, Trzcinski M Kurtis
Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z4.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2004 Jul;19(7):379-84. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2004.04.010.
Several recent, high-impact ecological studies feature natural microcosms as tools for testing effects of fragmentation, metacommunity theory or links between biodiversity and ecosystem processes. These studies combine the microcosm advantages of small size, short generation times, contained structure and hierarchical spatial arrangement with advantages of field studies: natural environmental variance, 'openness' and realistic species combinations with shared evolutionary histories. This enables tests of theory pertaining to spatial and temporal dynamics, for example, the effects of neighboring communities on local diversity, or the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem function. Using examples, we comment on the position of natural microcosms in the roster of ecological research strategies and tools. We conclude that natural microcosms are as versatile as artificial microcosms, but as complex and biologically realistic as other natural systems. Research to date combined with inherent attributes of natural microcosms make them strong candidate model systems for ecology.
最近的几项具有重大影响的生态学研究以自然微观世界作为工具，用于测试破碎化效应、集合群落理论或生物多样性与生态系统过程之间的联系。这些研究将微观世界体积小、世代时间短、结构封闭和分层空间排列的优点与实地研究的优点相结合：自然环境差异、“开放性”以及具有共同进化历史的现实物种组合。这使得能够对与空间和时间动态相关的理论进行测试，例如，邻近群落对局部多样性的影响，或生物多样性对生态系统功能的影响。我们通过实例评论了自然微观世界在生态研究策略和工具列表中的地位。我们得出结论，自然微观世界与人工微观世界一样通用，但与其他自然系统一样复杂且具有生物学现实性。迄今为止的研究与自然微观世界的固有属性相结合，使其成为生态学中强有力的候选模型系统。
