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

通过这次规划访问詹姆斯A.内布拉斯加大学奥马哈分校的威尔逊将与来自奥斯陆大学的挪威同行尼尔斯C。他是旅鼠生物学和种群周期方面的专家。 挪威旅鼠是几种在种群密度上表现出规律性周期的啮齿动物之一。 人们对为什么会发生这种剧烈的人口周期知之甚少。 威尔逊博士和两名美国本科生将拜访位于奥斯陆的挪威生态与进化综合中心的Stenseth博士，计划进行一项合作研究，旨在测试Charnov-Finnoval假说的假设，该假说将人口循环与生理因素联系起来，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。 研究结果应该提高我们对旅鼠和类似的高山和北极物种的生物系统面临来自全球气候条件变化的压力的监管的基本理解。挪威的研究项目将在访问奥斯陆、位于Finse的挪威阿尔卑斯山研究中心和位于Evanstad的景观生态实地考察站后确定。 设想中的伙伴关系应该受益于美国首席研究员在生理学、免疫功能和传播方面的知识，以及挪威在人口动态建模方面的专业知识。 如果成功，长期合作研究将加强我们在人口周期中测量和解释生理和免疫参数的能力。挪威的合作活动通过使美国和欧洲的专家能够联合收割机互补人才并在共同感兴趣和有能力的领域共享研究资源来实现促进科学知识的计划目标。 更广泛的影响包括美国本科生的早期职业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.