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

捕食下狼蛛繁殖行为的变化RiskAnn L.Rypstra，迈阿密大学，汉密尔顿校园每时每刻，动物都必须权衡权衡，决定如何将时间和精力分配给觅食和繁殖，同时尽量减少暴露在捕食等风险中。狼蛛Pardosa milvina在其主要捕食者之一Hogna helluo的共同出现的狼蛛的信息存在的情况下，显示出有效的反捕食者行为。反捕食者的行为是通过捕食者在占据一个区域时沉积的线索(可能是丝线和粪便)来调节的。利用这些线索作为捕食风险的替代指标，特定的成本(捕食或减少繁殖成功)可以通过实验从收益(生存和增加繁殖成功)中分离出来。通过操纵有或没有活体被捕食风险的被捕食线索(感知被捕食风险)，可以量化繁殖过程中每个阶段的行为权衡和被捕食的相对风险。在每个阶段，人们可以量化：(1)动物对捕食的敏感性，(2)对感知到的捕食威胁做出的行为变化，(3)这些行为变化提供对捕食的一些保护的程度，以及(4)为了应对捕食风险而改变生殖行为对繁殖成功和适合度(生存、产卵和物候)的影响。实验将在迈阿密大学生态研究中心的实验室和野外进行。这项研究的学术价值在于它将促进对捕食者-猎物相互作用的理解。此外，它还将使我们更清楚地了解在交配过程的每个阶段，通过捕食进行的自然选择如何与性选择相互作用，从而形成交配策略。这项研究还将对农业生态系统中两种重要的捕食性节肢动物共存的因素有更深入的了解。这些信息将有助于理解维持生物多样性的机制，并将对农业系统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发展了一个合作研究社区，包括来自两个非常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)的两年开放招生校园，另一个是小型私立文科学院(Susquehanna)。招生工作将针对非传统学生、阿巴拉契亚当地人口的学生以及传统少数群体。该项目将把这两所大学的本科生研究人员团结在一个共同的研究目标之下，并通过这样做，让他们都接触到不同教育环境的文化。该研究计划包括一些技术上简单的实验，这些实验可以很容易地由本科生个人或团队作为独立的项目进行。这样的研究项目的好处在于，本科生可以获得项目的很大一部分所有权，并将其付诸实施。当这些不同的项目放在一起考虑时，将揭示对经济上重要的捕食者繁殖行为的全面理解。这项研究计划将帮助建立新的助理教授(个人)的研究计划，恢复高级教员(Rypstra)的研究计划，并帮助最近的博士(博士后助理)学习如何在本科机构制定研究计划。本科生将探索文献，撰写研究提案和论文，并在地区和国家会议上向同龄人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.