Aboveground and belowground enemies and the invasion success of plants: experimental tests in the US and China

研究植物入侵的传统方法对成功和广泛入侵背后的机制产生了有限的见解。大量的综述表明，需要进行生物地理上明确的实验，考虑各种生物相互作用，包括来自原生和引进范围的入侵植物的多个种群，并利用每个范围的多个植物物种来提供适当的生态环境。该项目将建立在对乌油树的正在进行的研究的基础上，该物种在美国东南部高度入侵，通过同时操纵该物种当前地理范围内入侵和原生部分的多种生物相互作用。美国和中国的田间和温室实验将被用来研究地上(专业性和通用性草食动物、叶部真菌)和地下(病原真菌、菌根、草食动物)相互作用在决定乌脂树成功与否中的作用。这一项目的学术价值在于，它将增强人们对导致引进物种成败的机制的理解，以及这些机制在入侵物种地理范围的本地和新部分中的相对重要性。入侵物种的重大和日益严重的经济影响有助于该项目产生更广泛的影响；更好地了解促进入侵物种成功的机制将有助于指导土地和资源管理者。其他更广泛的影响包括对研究生和本科生的培训，以及与中国四所院校的科学家进行重要的国际合作。该奖项的部分资金来自国际科学与工程办公室。

Traditional approaches to studying plant invasions have produced limited insights into the mechanisms underlying successful and widespread invasions. A wealth of reviews has indicated a need for biogeographically explicit experiments that consider a variety of biotic interactions, that include multiple populations of the invasive plant from its native and introduced range, and that utilize multiple plant species from each range to provide appropriate ecological context. This project will build on ongoing studies of the Chinese tallow tree, a species that is highly invasive in the southeast U.S., by simultaneously manipulating multiple biotic interactions in both invasive and native portions of the species' current geographic range. Field and greenhouse experiments in the US and China will be used to investigate the roles of aboveground (specialist and generalist herbivores, foliar fungi) and belowground (pathogenic fungi, mycorrhizae, herbivores) interactions in determining tallow tree success. The intellectual merit of this project is that it will enhance understanding of mechanisms that contribute to the success, or failure, of introduced species, and the relative importance of those mechanisms in native and new portions of the geographic range of an invasive species. The substantial and growing economic impact of invasive species contributes to the broader impact of this project; better understanding of mechanisms that contribute to the success of invasive species will help guide land and resource managers. Other broader impacts include training of graduate and undergraduate students, and a significant international collaboration with scientists at four Chinese institutions.This award is funded in part by the Office of International Science and Engineering.