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

[9902168]了解影响物种相互作用的因素对许多生态过程至关重要。本研究将研究由一系列资源环境引起的寄主植物质量的差异如何影响巴拿马森林中蚂蚁和蝴蝶幼虫（Thisbe irenea）之间兼性互惠关系的结果和参与者的变化。这些毛毛虫分泌富含氮的分泌物来吸引蚂蚁，以换取免受捕食者的保护。本研究将在森林中的普通花园中使用光照和/或养分的实验操作来完成。其他工作将涉及更多的受控环境，以确定寄主植物的特征如何影响毛虫的生长。毛毛虫和蚂蚁对植物质量变化的反应可能相互作用，产生一系列的结果，这有助于解释寄主植物和毛毛虫成功的条件。研究人员希望，了解资源可用性的变化如何影响从植物到捕食者的营养水平上的相互作用成员，将有助于揭示形成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.