With increasing human disturbances (e.g., spatial fragmentation), drastic changes have taken place in spatial structure, which further affects the structure and function of ecosystem. The consequences of spatial changes on ecological processes are significantly associated with change in predator-prey interactions. Thus, exploring the relationships between spatial structure andpredator-prey interactions was of significance in understanding the underlying mechanisms of ecological changes in fragmented landscapes. This paper summarized current studies about the effects of typical spatial structures on predator-prey interactions, including the spatial size, spatial shape, spatial orientation, spatial distribution and spatial connectivity. Researches indicated that the stability and continuation of predator-prey system generally decreases with decreasing spatial size and connectivity, and excessive increase in the fragmentation of space, as well as changes in spatial shape and orientation which result in excessive increase in the grazing rate of predators. Effect of complicated spatial structure (coupled from above-mentioned structures) on predator-prey interactions, especially multispecies predator-prey interactions, should be focused on in the future.
随着人类对环境影响的加剧(如空间破碎化),生态系统的空间结构发生了剧烈变化,极大地改变了生态系统的结构和功能.空间结构对生态系统的影响与捕食关系的改变密切相关,探讨两者之间的联系对于了解破碎生境生态变化的机制至关重要.基于此,本文就典型空间结构对捕食关系的影响进行了论述,包括空间大小、形状、方向、布局和连通性等.资料表明,空间变小、连通性降低、空间及集合群落过度破碎化、空间方向和形状变化等导致捕食成功率过度增长,都不利于猎物-捕食者系统的稳定和持续.关于简单空间构型耦合形成的复杂空间结构对捕食关系,尤其是对多物种共存的复杂捕食关系的影响有待在今后的研究中进一步加强.
Keywords: ecological process; spatial connectivity; spatial distribution; spatial orientation; spatial shape; spatial size; trophic interaction.