Collaborative Research (RUI): Toward a stoichiometric theory of ant ecology--from colony performance to community composition

生物的化学成分反映了它们的进化、它们的特征和它们生存的环境。某些资源的可获得性的差异，特别是对某一特定性状的表达至关重要的化学资源的稀缺性，可能会限制某些物种的丰度。在巴拿马低地热带雨林的一个不同的凋落蚁群落中，将测试一组特定的性状，如抗饥饿能力、工蚁规模、蚁群规模、蚁群生长速度和蚁群速度，与化学成分和营养物质的可用性之间的联系程度。特定营养物质的实验操作将用于测试营养物质的可用性是否能够以与观察到的物种特征和化学成分之间的相关性一致的方式改变蚂蚁群落的物种组成。这个热带生物多样性科学的项目是学生学习进化生态学的一个很好的切入点，本科生将参与研究的所有阶段。蚂蚁的熟悉性和实验可操作性使其成为理想的教学工具，而该项目的多个研究重点将为学生提供获得多样化技能的机会。实地考察将在巴拿马的巴罗科罗拉多岛进行，将使学生接触到国际实地考察站的动态研究文化。总之，这些经历应该为学生提供追求科学事业的技能、知识和动力。

The chemical composition of living organisms reflects their evolution, their traits, and the environment in which they exist. Differences in the availability of certain resources, and in particular a scarcity of a chemical resource that is critical for the expression of a particular trait, may restrict the abundance of some species. The extent to which a specific set of traits, starvation resistance, worker size, colony size, colony growth rate, and colony tempo, is linked to chemical composition and nutrient availability will be tested in a diverse community of litter ants in a lowland tropical rainforest of Panama. Experimental manipulations of particular nutrients will be used to test whether nutrient availability can shift the species composition of the ant community in ways that are consistent with observed correlations between species traits and chemical composition. This project in tropical biodiversity science is an excellent entry point to evolutionary ecology for students, and undergraduates will participate in all phases of the research. The familiarity and experimental tractability of ants make them an ideal instructional tool, and the multiple research foci of the project will provide opportunities for students to acquire a diversity of skills. The field work, set on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, will expose students to the dynamic research culture of an international field station. Together, these experiences should provide students with the skills, knowledge, and motivation to pursue a career in science.