International Planning Visit: Linking Physiology and Dispersal to Population Cycles in Norwegian Lemmings; a New Look at the Charnov-Finerty Hypothesis

通过这次计划中的访问，内布拉斯加州奥马哈大学的詹姆斯·a·威尔逊将与挪威奥斯陆大学的同行、旅鼠生物学和种群周期方面的知名专家尼尔斯·c·斯坦塞斯展开合作研究活动。挪威旅鼠是几种在人口密度上有规律循环的啮齿动物之一。人们对这些剧烈的人口周期发生的原因知之甚少。威尔逊博士和两名美国本科生将前往奥斯陆的挪威生态与进化合成中心（Norwegian Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis）拜访Stenseth博士，计划开展一项合作研究，旨在检验Charnov-Finerty假说的假设，该假说将人口循环与身体状况、激素水平和免疫功能等生理因素联系起来。该团队的总体目标是建立一个有用的模型，用于研究旅鼠种群循环中涉及的生理因素。研究结果将提高我们对旅鼠和类似的高山和北极物种调控的基本理解，这些物种的生物系统面临着全球气候条件变化的压力。实地考察地点、试验方法以及美国与挪威互动式研究项目的详细计划将在访问奥斯陆、位于芬斯的挪威高山研究中心和位于埃万斯塔德的景观生态实地站之后确定。设想中的合作伙伴关系将受益于美国首席研究员在生理学、免疫功能和扩散方面的知识，以及挪威在种群动态建模方面的专业知识。如果取得成功，长期合作研究将加强我们测量和解释人口周期中生理和免疫参数的能力。这项美国与挪威的合作活动实现了推进科学知识的计划目标，使美国和欧洲的专家能够结合互补的人才，并在共同感兴趣和有能力的领域分享研究资源。更广泛的影响包括在职业生涯早期将美国本科生引入挪威的国际实地研究和欧洲研究人员的专业网络。

Through this planning visit James A. Wilson of the University of Nebraska-Omaha will initiate cooperative research activities with his Norwegian counterpart from the University of Oslo, Nils C. Stenseth, an established expert on lemming biology and population cycles. Norwegian lemmings are one of several rodent species that show regular cycles in population density. Little is known about why these drastic population cycles occur. Dr. Wilson and two U.S. undergraduate students will visit Dr. Stenseth at the Norwegian Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis in Oslo to plan a collaborative study designed to test assumptions of the Charnov-Finerty hypothesis linking population cycling with physiologic factors, like body condition, hormone levels and immune function. The team's overall goal is to establish a useful model for studying the physiologic factors involved with lemming population cycling. Findings should improve our fundamental understanding of the regulation of lemmings and similar alpine and arctic species whose biologic systems face pressures from changing global climate conditions.Field study sites, test methodologies, and detailed plans for an interactive U.S.-Norwegian research project will be determined following visits to Oslo, the Norwegian Alpine Research Center, in Finse, and the Landscape Ecological Field Station, in Evanstad. The envisioned partnership should benefit from the U.S. principal investigator's knowledge of physiology, immune function, and dispersal and from Norwegian expertise in modeling population dynamics. If successful, longer-term cooperative research will strengthen our ability to measure and account for physiologic and immune parameters in population cycles.This U.S.-Norwegian collaborative activity fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling experts in the United States and Europe to combine complementary talents and share research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. Broader impacts include early career introduction of U.S. undergraduate students to international field research in Norway and to a professional network of European researchers.