C-RUI Shifts in Wolf Spider Reproductive Behavior under Predation Risk

ann L. Rypstra，迈阿密大学汉密尔顿校区每时每一刻，动物都必须权衡利弊，决定如何将时间和精力分配到觅食和繁殖中，同时尽量减少被捕食等风险。狼蛛，Pardosa milvina，在它的主要捕食者之一的信息面前表现出有效的反捕食者行为：同时出现的狼蛛，Hogna hello。反捕食者的行为是通过捕食者在占领一个区域时留下的线索（假定是丝拖和粪便）来调节的。利用这些线索作为捕食风险的替代品，具体成本（捕食或繁殖成功率降低）可以从实验上与收益（生存和繁殖成功率提高）分离。通过操纵存在或不存在H. hello线索（感知捕食风险），有或没有活的H. hello（实际捕食风险），可以量化繁殖过程中每个阶段的行为权衡和相对捕食风险。在每个阶段，我们可以量化：(1)动物对捕食的易感性；(2)对感知到的捕食威胁做出的行为变化；(3)这些行为变化在多大程度上提供了免遭捕食的保护；(4)为应对捕食风险而改变生殖行为对生殖成功和适应性（生存、产卵和物候）的影响。实验将在迈阿密大学生态学研究中心的实验室和实地进行。这项研究的智力价值在于它将促进对捕食者-猎物相互作用的理解。此外，它将使我们更清楚地了解通过捕食的自然选择如何与性选择相互作用，从而在交配过程的每个阶段形成交配策略。本研究还将对两种重要的食肉节肢动物在农业生态系统中共存的因素提供更深入的了解。这些信息将有助于了解维持生物多样性的机制，并将对农业系统中的生物防治产生重要影响。拟议的研究产生的更广泛的影响在于合作研究社区的发展，包括来自两个截然不同的机构的博士和本科生：一个是大型州立大学（迈阿密-汉密尔顿）的两年制开放招生校园，另一个是小型私立文理学院（萨斯奎汉纳）。招生工作将针对非传统学生，来自当地阿巴拉契亚地区的学生，以及传统的少数民族。该项目将联合来自两所大学的本科生研究人员，以实现共同的研究目标，并在此过程中，使他们都接触到不同教育环境的文化。该研究项目包括一些技术上简单明了的实验，这些实验可以很容易地由个人或本科生团队作为独立项目进行。这样一个研究项目的美妙之处在于，本科生可以拥有项目的重要部分，并将其执行到出版。当这些不同的项目一起考虑时，将揭示对经济上重要的捕食者的繁殖行为的全面理解。这个研究项目将帮助建立一个新的助理教授（人）的研究项目，振兴一个高级教员（Rypstra）的研究项目，并帮助一个最近的博士（博士后助理）学习如何在一个本科机构发展一个研究项目。本科生将探索文献，撰写研究建议和论文，并在地区和国家会议上向同行和专业人士展示他们的发现。

Shifts In Wolf Spider Reproductive Behavior Under Predation RiskAnn L. Rypstra, Miami University, Hamilton Campus At every moment, animals must weigh trade-offs and make decisions about how to allocate time and energy into foraging and reproduction while trying to minimize exposure to risks such as predation. The wolf spider, Pardosa milvina, displays effective anti-predator behavior in the presence of information about one of its major predators: the co-occurring wolf spider, Hogna helluo. The anti-predator behavior is mediated through cues (putatively silk draglines and feces) that the predator deposits as it occupies an area. Using these cues as a surrogate for predation risk, the specific costs (predation or reduced reproductive success) can be experimentally decoupled from the benefits (survival and increased reproductive success). Through manipulation of the presence or absence of H. helluo cues (perceived predation risk) with or without a living H. helluo (actual predation risk), the behavioral trade-offs and relative risk of predation can be quantified for every stage in the reproductive process. In each stage one can quantify: (1) the susceptibility of the animals to predation, (2) the behavioral changes made in response to a perceived threat of predation, (3) the degree to which those behavioral changes provide some protection from predation, and (4) the impact of altering reproductive behaviors in response to predation risk on reproductive success and fitness (survival, egg production, and phenology). Experiments will be conducted in the laboratory and in the field at Miami University's Ecology Research Center. The intellectual merit of this study lies in the fact that it will advance the understanding of predator-prey interactions. In addition, it will lead to a clearer understanding of how natural selection through predation interacts with sexual selection in shaping mating strategies at each stage of the mating process. This study will also provide a deeper understanding of the factors that allow the coexistence of two important predatory arthropods inhabiting agroecosystems. This information will lead to an understanding of the mechanisms that maintain biological diversity and will have important implications for biological control in agricultural systems. The broader impacts resulting from the proposed research lie in the development of a collaborative research community including PhDs and undergraduates from two very different institutions: a two-year open admission campus of a large state assisted university (Miami - Hamilton) and a small private liberal arts college (Susquehanna). Recruiting efforts will target non-traditional students, students from local Appalachian populations, as well as traditional minority groups. This program will unite undergraduate researchers from the two institutions behind a common research goal and, in so doing, expose them both to the culture of a different educational environment. The research program consists of a number of technically straightforward experiments that can easily be undertaken by individuals or teams of undergraduates as independent projects. The beauty of such a research program is that undergraduates can take ownership of significant portions of the project and execute them to publication. When these various projects are considered together, a comprehensive understanding of the reproduction behavior of an economically important predator will be revealed. This research program will help build the research program of a new Assistant Professor (Persons), rejuvenate the research program of a senior faculty member (Rypstra) and help a recent Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Associate) learn how to develop a research program at an undergraduate institution. Undergraduates will explore the literature, write research proposals and papers, and present their findings to their peers and to professionals at regional and national meetings.