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

生物体的化学成分反映了它们的进化、特征和生存环境。某些资源的可获得性的差异，特别是对表现某种特性至关重要的化学资源的稀缺，可能会限制某些物种的丰度。在何种程度上，一组特定的性状，耐饥饿，工人的大小，殖民地的大小，殖民地的生长速度，和殖民地的克里思，与化学成分和营养物质的可用性将被测试在一个不同的社区垃圾蚂蚁在巴拿马的低地热带雨林。实验操作特定的营养物质将被用来测试是否营养物质的可用性可以改变蚂蚁群落的物种组成的方式是一致的物种性状和化学成分之间的相关性观察。热带生物多样性科学的这个项目是学生进化生态学的一个很好的切入点，本科生将参与研究的各个阶段。蚂蚁的熟悉性和实验的易处理性使它们成为理想的教学工具，该项目的多个研究重点将为学生提供获得多种技能的机会。实地工作，设置在巴拿马的巴罗科罗拉多岛，将使学生接触到一个国际实地站的动态研究文化。总之，这些经验应该为学生提供技能，知识和动力，追求科学事业。

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.