Collaborative Research: Fear, Death, and Life History Switch Points - Cumulative Effects of Phenotypic Plasticity and Predation across Three Life Stages

许多猎物都有塑料防御，它们只有在面临被捕食的风险时才会使用，否则就节省了防御的成本。在某些情况下，这些可塑反应及其代价可能会对个人以后的生活和种群动态产生惊人的巨大影响。在其他情况下，捕食的致命影响更为重要。这个合作项目的重点是捕食者诱导的孵化和变态的可塑性，这是两个生态上的关键事件，说明了动物中常见的生命阶段转变。重点物种红眼树蛙为躲避捕食者而提早孵化，为应对蝌蚪捕食者而提早蜕变，为应对捕食者蛙类而延迟蜕变。该项目使用数学模型和野外实验，整合了这三个生命阶段，以评估环境背景如何影响种群动态和个体适应性对风险和直接捕食的塑料反应的相对重要性。这将促进对种群生态学、生活史和发展的理解，并加强这些领域之间的联系。直接资助博士后1名，研究生2-3名，本科生实习生6名，并为15-20名本科生提供研究机会。学生将获得热带野外生物学和生态学的跨文化经验和培训。研究结果将广泛传播-首席研究员之前的研究已在大众媒体和教科书中广泛报道。

Many prey have plastic defenses that they use only when at risk of predation, otherwise saving the costs of defense. In some contexts, these plastic responses and their costs can have surprisingly large consequences both for individuals later in life and for population dynamics. In other contexts the lethal effects of predation matter much more. This collaborative project focuses on predator-induced plasticity in hatching and metamorphosis, two ecologically pivotal events that exemplify the life-stage transitions common among animals. The focal species, red-eyed treefrogs, hatch early to escape egg predators, metamorphose early in response to tadpole predators, and delay metamorphosis in response to predators of froglets. The project uses mathematical models and field experiments integrated across these three life stages to assess how environmental context shapes the relative importance of plastic responses to risk and direct predation for both population dynamics and individual fitness. This will advance understanding of population ecology, life history, and development, and strengthen links among these fields. It will directly support a postdoctoral researcher, 2-3 graduate students, and 6 undergraduate interns, and provide research opportunities for 15-20 more undergraduates. Students will gain cross-cultural experience and training in tropical field biology and ecology. Results will be broadly disseminated - the Principal Investigator's prior research has been widely reported in the popular media and in textbooks.