DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Importance of Plant Ontogeny for Tri-trophic Interactions

论文研究：植物个体发育对三营养相互作用的重要性

• 批准号: 0909717
• 负责人: M. Deane Bowers
• 金额: $ 0.83万
• 依托单位: University of Colorado at Boulder
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-06-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0909717&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Importance; Plant; Ontogeny

Herbivore damage is one of the greatest sources of mortality in plant populations. As a consequence, plants have evolved a wide array of defenses to protect themselves from being eaten. However, the production of plant defenses is costly. Plants are constrained in how they can allocate their resources throughout plant development (i.e. ontogeny) to various essential functions, including defense. While recent studies have demonstrated that plant ontogeny can affect the expression of numerous traits relevant to herbivores, such as nutritional content and physical and chemical defenses, less attention has been given to investigating potential indirect effects of this variation on consumer species. The aim of this project is to assess how variation in plant traits, such as nutritional value, size, and chemical and physical defenses, throughout the ontogeny of a host-plant (Plantago lanceolata), can modify its interactions with a specialist herbivore (Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia) and predators of that herbivore. The investigators will conduct three greenhouse and field experiments examining where butterflies choose to lay their eggs, caterpillar performance and caterpillar predation risk at four host plant developmental stages. This research will document potential ecological and evolutionary consequences of temporal variation in plant traits on plant-herbivore-predator dynamics. This knowledge is important for both agricultural systems and conservation biology. Being able to predict herbivore host selection, performance, and predation risk on different host plant developmental stages will help to improve pest management strategies for crops, as well as to develop better eradication plans for invasive plant species. Several undergraduates will be trained in ecological research methods in this study, and the researchers will conduct public outreach to K-12 students and teachers through established relationships with University of Colorado educational programs.

食草动物危害是植物种群死亡的最大来源之一。因此，植物进化出了一系列防御措施，以保护自己不被吃掉。然而，生产植物防御系统的成本很高。植物在整个植物发育过程中(即个体发育)如何将其资源分配给包括防御在内的各种基本功能是受到限制的。虽然最近的研究表明，植物个体发育可以影响与食草动物相关的许多特征的表达，如营养成分和物理和化学防御，但对这种变异对消费物种的潜在间接影响的研究较少。这个项目的目的是评估寄主植物(车前草)个体发育过程中植物特征的变化，如营养价值、大小以及化学和物理防御能力，如何改变其与专业草食动物(七叶树蝴蝶，Junonia coenia)和该草食动物的捕食者之间的相互作用。研究人员将进行三个温室和田间实验，研究蝴蝶在四个寄主植物发育阶段的产卵地点、毛虫表现和毛虫捕食风险。这项研究将记录植物特性的时间变化对植物-草食-捕食者动态的潜在生态和进化后果。这一知识对农业系统和保护生物学都很重要。能够预测不同寄主植物发育阶段的食草动物寄主选择、表现和捕食风险，将有助于改进农作物的害虫管理策略，并为入侵植物物种制定更好的根除计划。在这项研究中，几名本科生将接受生态学研究方法的培训，研究人员将通过与科罗拉多大学教育项目建立的关系，向K-12学生和教师进行公开宣传。