Dissertation Research: The Effects of Variation in Host Plant Quality on a Facultative Ant-Caterpillar Mutualism

9902168Feener 了解影响物种相互作用的因素对于许多生态过程至关重要。本研究将探讨巴拿马森林中各种资源环境引起的寄主植物质量差异如何影响蚂蚁和蝴蝶（Thisbe irenea）幼虫之间兼性互利共生的结果和参与者的变化。这些毛毛虫产生富含氮的分泌物来吸引蚂蚁，以换取免受捕食的保护。这项研究将通过在森林中的普通花园中对光和/或养分进行实验操作来完成。其他工作将涉及更多受控设置，以确定寄主植物特征如何影响毛毛虫的生长。毛毛虫和蚂蚁对可变植物质量的反应可能相互作用，在蚂蚁-毛毛虫相互作用中产生一系列结果，这有助于解释宿主植物和毛毛虫成功的条件。希望了解资源可用性的变化如何影响从植物到捕食者的各个营养级别的相互作用成员，将有助于解开影响多物种相互作用进化的选择压力和限制。

9902168FeenerUnderstanding the factors that affect species interactions are of central importance to many ecological processes. This study will examine how differences is host plant quality arising from a range of resource environments contribute to variation in the outcomes and participants of a facultative mutualism between ants and larvae of a butterfly (Thisbe irenea) in a Panamanian forest. These caterpillars produce nitrogen-rich secretions to attract ants in exchange for protection against predation. This study will be done using experimental manipulations of light and/or nutrients in common gardens in the forest. Other work will involve more controlled settings to determine how host plant characteristics affect the growth of the caterpillar. The responses of caterpillars and ants to variable plant quality may interact to produce a range of outcomes in the ant-caterpillar interaction which help explain the conditions for the success of the host plant and the caterpillar. It is hoped that understanding how variation in resource availability influences interacting members across trophic levels from plants to predators will help in unraveling the selection pressures and constraints that shape the evolution of multispecies interactions.