Collaborative Research: Scale- and context-dependence of relative humidity to adult Manduca sexta behavior

对调节动植物相互作用的感觉线索和信号的研究往往只集中在一个尺度(社区或个人)和一个背景(吸引)上。关于感官线索如何在不同的背景下改变不同尺度的行为，我们知之甚少。在这项研究中，烟草天蛾(Manduca Sexta)将被用来研究相对湿度在不同尺度(本地、栖息地和景观)和环境(性别、年龄、营养状况)下的觅食选择中的行为作用，以及这些行为如何相互作用(相加、协同)来改变定向、栖息地选择和觅食的食性行为的转变，以及它们对飞蛾适合性的影响。来自康奈尔大学的大气科学本科生将接受跨学科培训，他们不仅将在研究地点建立相对湿度分布的模型，还将来到亚利桑那州，第一手学习气候变量如何影响生物过程。这项研究还将支持一个推广计划，在特别设计的讲习班和课堂访问中，利用昆虫向二年级学生教授生物校长，惠及5000多名小学生，其中大多数是少数民族和贫困经济条件下的小学生。这些学生将获得实践经验，了解沙漠环境中水和湿度的重要性，昆虫的行为方式和原因，以及昆虫天生的魅力。70多名本科生将接受外展教学以及如何向公众传达对科学的热情的培训。康奈尔大学的一项外展计划专注于昆虫的非凡生物学，并将保证这一项目在两个不同城市的公众中产生强大的影响。本科生和博士后将接受生态生理学、行为学、传粉生物学、营养生态学和群落结构方面的跨学科培训，以及在实验设计、论文写作和科学研究口头陈述方面的一对一辅导。

Studies of sensory cues and signals mediating plant-animal interactions have tended to focus only on one scale (community or individual) and one context (attraction). Relatively little is known as to how sensory cues modify behavior across scales and in different contexts. In this study, the tobacco hornworm hawkmoth (Manduca sexta) will be used to address the behavioral roles of relative humidity in foraging choices at different scales (local, habitat and landscape) and contexts (sex, age, nutritional status) and how these interact (additively, synergistically) to modify transitions in nectivorous behaviors of orientation, habitat selection and foraging and their implications for moth fitness. Cross-disciplinary training will be given to atmospheric science undergraduates from Cornell who will not only model relative humidity profiles at the study site, but will come to Arizona to learn, first hand, how climactic variables influence biological processes. This study will also support an outreach program that uses insects to teach biological principals to 2nd grade students in specially designed workshops and classroom visits, reaching over 5000 elementary school students most of whom are minority and of poverty economic status. These students will gain hands-on experience as to the importance of water and humidity in desert environments, how and why insects behave, and that bugs are inherently fascinating. Over 70 Undergraduate Preceptors will be trained in outreach teaching and how to convey an enthusiasm for science to the general public. An outreach program at Cornell ('Insectapalooza') is focused on the extraordinary biology of insects, and will guarantee a strong impact of this project on the public in two diverse cities. The undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows will receive cross-disciplinary training in ecophysiology, behavior, pollination biology, nutritional ecology and community structure, as well as one-on-one mentoring in experimental design, manuscript writing and the oral presentation of scientific research.