Are Current Trophic Dynamics Models Worth Their Salt? The Relative Roles of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Effects Along a Salinity Gradient in a Florida Salt Marsh.

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This proposal focuses on testing whether insect herbivores are controlled largely by theirhost plant or by their natural enemies. I will test the relative strengths of thesefactors by using an intertidal study system of salt marsh plants and their associatedherbivores. I will test whether the influence of both plants and natural enemies variesalong a stress gradient, in this case a salinity gradient. The project should be interestto ecologists, agriculturalists, entomologists, and pest control workers. If naturalenemies are not found to be important, or to be important only in certain habitats, thenthe value of biological control, using natural enemies, is brought into question and thevalue of plant resistance as a control technique is strengthened.