Research Starter Grant: The Effect of Habitat Fragmentation on Ant-plant Mutualisms

许多热带植物都有专门的结构，蚂蚁在其中建立殖民地，作为回报，蚂蚁保护植物免受食草动物或竞争。森林破碎化的短期影响包括从受影响的景观中消除蚂蚁，随后是寄主植物的落叶。本研究将探讨森林破碎化影响植物间相互作用的各种机制。实地工作将在森林碎片生物动力学项目（巴西）中进行，这是唯一一个旨在研究热带雨林碎片效应的大型实验性景观。除了有助于推动少数族裔科学家的职业生涯，这项研究还有助于我们了解景观变化如何改变种间动态，更好地了解这一点将提高我们设计保护和保护受关注物种的避难所的能力。

Many tropical plants have specialized structures in which ants establish colonies, in return for which ants protect the plant from herbivores or competition. Short term effects of forest fragmentation include the elimination of ants from impacted landscapes, followed by defoliation of host-plants. This research would investigate various mechanisms by which forest fragmentation affect ant-plant mutualisms. Fieldwork would be conducted in The Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (Brazil), the only large-scale , experimental landscape designed to study the effects of framentation in a tropical rainforest. Besides helping to advance the career of a minority scientist, the research would contribute to our understanding of how landscape alterations change inter-specific dynamics, a better understanding of which would improve our ability to design refuges that conserve and protect species of concern.