Research Starter Grant. The Consequences of Variation in Predator-Prey Interactions: Models and Tests Using a Seed-Beetle and Parasitoid

研究起点：捕食者-猎物相互作用中变异的后果：使用种子甲虫和寄生虫的模型和测试。寄主-寄生蜂的相互作用在一定程度上是由于它们的生态和经济意义，因此以前的许多经验和理论研究都是以此为主题的。为了赞扬正在进行的实地考察和建模工作，该项目将使用食种的斑纹夜蛾Callosobruchus maculatus和寄生蜂Anisopteromaris calandrae的种群作为一个模型系统，以研究影响种群调节和稳定性的因素。寄主和寄生蜂种群动态稳定的主要机制之一是寄生蜂攻击率的异质性。当寄生蜂必须在斑驳的环境中寻找寄主时，例如当寄主是一种以多种资源植物为不同食物的多食性草食昆虫时，就可能发生这种异质性。本研究项目的一个目标是将寄主-寄生蜂相互作用的模型参数化，包括寄主的这些替代资源，以检验关于寄主和寄生蜂种群稳定性的假设。首先研究几种或几种豆科植物种子中寄生蜂对黑斑蜂的功能反应，以确定引起不同类型寄生寄生的替代资源。在第二阶段的实验中，将测试资源驱动的异质性对寄主和寄生蜂种群动态稳定性的影响。为了刻画长期种群动态，将利用世代-长响应面实验对寄主-寄生蜂联合招募曲线进行参数化。这些实验将允许测试寄生蜂密度对功能反应的重要性，作为种群模型参数化过程的一部分。发展这些物种作为模式系统，将推动理论和实验相结合的长期目标，以了解空间异质性和非线性在种群动态和群落结构中的作用，并开发统计方法的新应用，以测试新的生态理论。

Research Starter: The Consequences of Variation in Predator-Prey Interactions: Models and Tests Using a Seed-Beetle and Parasitoid.Inouye, Brian D. Florida State University DEB: 0309177Parasitoids are common and diverse members of most ecosystems that play an important role in limiting insect herbivore populations. Due in part to their ecological and economic significance, host-parasitoid interactions have been the subject of many previous empirical and theoretical studies. To compliment on-going fieldwork and modeling efforts, this project will use populations of the seed-feeding bruchid weevil Callosobruchus maculatus and the parasitoid Anisopteromalis calandrae as a model system for studying factors affecting population regulation and stability. One of the major mechanisms thought to stabilize host and parasitoid population dynamics is heterogeneity in parasitoid attack rates. Such heterogeneity may occur when a parasitoid must search for its host in a patchy environment, for example when the host is a polyphagous herbivorous insect that feeds differentially on a number of types of resource plants. One goal of this research project will be to parameterize a model of host-parasitoid interactions including these alternative resources of the host, in order to test hypotheses about host and parasitoid population stability. First the functional responses of parasitoids attacking C. maculatus in several species or varieties of legume seeds will be characterized, in order to identify alternative resources that provoke different patterns of parasitoid attack. In a second stage of experiments, the effects of the resource driven heterogeneity on the stability of the host and parasitoid population dynamics will be tested. To characterize long-term population dynamics generation-long response surface experiments will be used to parameterize joint host-parasitoid recruitment curves. These experiments will allow a test of the importance of parasitoid density for functional responses, as part of the process of parameterizing the population models. Developing these species as a model system will further the long-term goals of blending theory and experiments to understand the roles of spatial heterogeneity and nonlinearities in population dynamics and community structure, and developing novel applications of statistical methods for testing new ecological theory.