The Roles of Cheaters and Abiotic Stress in the Disruption of a Pollination Mutualism

作弊者和非生物胁迫在破坏授粉互利关系中的作用

• 批准号: 0316110
• 负责人: Candace Galen
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: University of Missouri-Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-15 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0316110&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Roles; Cheaters; Abiotic; Stress; Disruption

Mutualisms are ecological relationships in which both participating species benefit. These beneficial interactions are universal among organisms, impacting ecosystem function and community integrity. In this project the investigator addresses the ecological conditions leading to the collapse of a pollination mutualism by conducting three experiments in the field. In the first experiment, nectar-thieving ants will be introduced to plants to determine whether the stability of the pollination mutualism depends on the abundance of floral antagonists. In the second experiment the diversity of pollinators visiting the host plant will be manipulated to test whether alternative pollinator species can buffer a host plant from the destabilizing effect of floral antagonists. The third experiment will manipulate drought stress experimentally to test whether plant-pollinator relationships are more vulnerable to disruption under harsh environmental conditions. The proposed research evaluates how abiotic stress affects the net benefits derived from aplant's relationship with its animal pollinators in the presence and absence of cheaters.

互利共生是一种生态关系，在这种关系中，两个参与物种都受益。这些有益的相互作用在生物体中是普遍存在的，影响着生态系统功能和群落完整性。在该项目中，研究人员通过在田间进行三项实验来解决导致授粉互利共生崩溃的生态条件。 在第一个实验中，将花蜜盗窃蚂蚁引入植物，以确定是否稳定的授粉互惠依赖于丰富的花卉拮抗剂。 在第二个实验中，将操纵访问宿主植物的传粉者的多样性，以测试替代传粉者物种是否可以缓冲宿主植物免受花拮抗剂的不稳定作用。 第三个实验将通过实验操纵干旱胁迫，以测试植物与传粉者的关系是否在恶劣的环境条件下更容易受到破坏。这项拟议中的研究评估了在存在和不存在欺骗者的情况下，非生物胁迫如何影响植物与其动物传粉者关系的净收益。