Blog Post 7: Theoretical Perspectives
Theoretical basis of your research project
The theoretical basis for my project revolves around understanding how human activities and land management practices can impact pollinator communities and, by extension, ecosystem functioning.
What ecological processes might your hypothesis touch on?
1. Pollination: pollinators are important in the process of transferring pollen between plants, facilitating fertilization and seed production.
2. Habitat Creation: Undisturbed lawns help to create habitats for various species. It can help increase insect and plant diversity.
3. Habitat Fragmentation: Disturbed lawns may result from activities such as urban development, mowing, pesticide use, and others. These practices can lead to habitat fragmentation, reducing the availability of suitable habitat for pollinators.
4. Conservation Biology: The importance of conserving pollinator diversity and recognizing that disturbances can lead to declines in some pollinator species is well known and studied. This research informs conservation strategies aimed at mitigating the negative impacts of disturbances on pollinators.
5. Resource availability: availability of nectar, pollen and nesting sites is critical for pollinator survival and reproduction. Disturbances can affect the abundance and diversity of flowering plants and nesting resources in lawns, potentially leading to resource limitations for pollinators.
What ideas underpin your research?
1. Species diversity: More diverse and abundant pollinator communities in undisturbed lawns are likely to contribute to greater ecosystem resilience and stability.
2. Ecological Resilience: Disturbed lawns may be less resilient to environmental changes due to reduced biodiversity and altered habitat. Research in this area could help to understand how the presence or absence of pollinators in different lawn types can affect the resilience of these ecosystems to disturbances.
3. Seasonal Timing: The timing for pollinators is significant because it aligns with the peak flowering period for many native wildflowers. Appropriate timing maximizes the benefit to pollinators, which often have specific timing requirements for their life cycles.
Please list three keywords that you could use to describe your research project.
– Conservation ecology
– Disturbance
– Diversity