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

通过这次计划访问，内布拉斯加州大学奥马哈分校的詹姆斯·A·威尔逊将与来自奥斯陆大学的挪威同行尼尔斯·C·斯坦塞斯展开合作研究活动，尼尔斯·C·斯坦塞斯是旅鼠生物学和种群周期方面的知名专家。挪威旅鼠是种群密度呈规律性循环的几种啮齿动物之一。对于这些剧烈的人口周期为什么会发生，人们知之甚少。威尔逊博士和两名美国本科生将在奥斯陆的挪威生态与进化合成中心拜访斯坦塞特博士，计划进行一项合作研究，旨在测试查尔诺夫-芬内蒂假说的假设，该假说将人口循环与生理因素联系在一起，如身体状况、激素水平和免疫功能。该团队的总体目标是建立一个有用的模型，用于研究与旅鼠种群循环有关的生理因素。研究结果将提高我们对旅鼠和类似的高山和北极物种的监管的基本理解，这些物种的生物系统面临全球气候条件变化的压力。实地研究地点、测试方法和美国-挪威互动研究项目的详细计划将在访问奥斯陆、芬兰的挪威高山研究中心和埃文斯塔德的景观生态野外站后确定。这种设想中的伙伴关系应该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，以及挪威在人口动态建模方面的专业知识。如果成功，长期的合作研究将加强我们测量和计算人口周期中的生理和免疫参数的能力。这项美国和挪威的合作活动通过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能力强的领域共享研究资源来实现促进科学知识的计划目标。更广泛的影响包括将美国本科生的职业生涯提前介绍到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.