RAPID: Comparing Historic and Contemporary Plant-Pollinator Interaction Networks to Investigate the Effects of Climate Change and Invasive Species

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。授粉服务在生态和经济上都很重要，是我们所吃的大部分食物的来源。许多植物的授粉目前受到包括气候变化和入侵物种在内的人为力量的威胁。气候变化可能会扰乱植物开花的时间和传粉者的活动，使它们不再重叠。入侵植物可能正在从它们通常造访的本土植物中窃取传粉者。测试授粉如何被气候变化和入侵物种破坏是困难的，因为在大多数情况下，关于植物-传粉者相互作用的历史信息是不可用的。然而，一份关于19世纪80年代末伊利诺伊州卡林维尔所有植物-传粉者相互作用的非常详细的数据集，为比较历史和当代模式提供了一个重要而难得的机会。通过对相同地区进行重新采样，这些研究人员将更好地了解气候变暖和入侵物种是如何影响授粉的。该项目的紧迫性源于该地区的快速郊区发展；研究地点可能在不久的将来被改造成住房分区。这项研究将突出表明，尽管环境发生了巨大变化，但随着时间的推移，昆虫物种仍保持着作为传粉者的重要角色，并将显示哪些物种最容易受到气候或与入侵物种相关的灭绝的影响。这些结果也将对依赖昆虫授粉的农业植物物种产生重要影响。这项研究的更广泛影响包括为高中、本科和研究生水平的学生以及研究技术员和博士后助理提供研究和培训机会。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Pollination services, important both ecologically and economically, are responsible for much of the food that we eat. Pollination of many plant species is currently threatened by anthropogenic forces, including climate change and invasive species. Climate change may be disrupting the timing of plant flowering and the activity of pollinators such that they no longer overlap. Invasive plants may be stealing pollinators away from the native plants that they usually visit. Testing how pollination is being disrupted by climate change and invasive species is difficult because historical information on plant-pollinator interactions is not available in most cases. However, a very detailed dataset of all of the plant-pollinator interactions that were present in Carlinville, IL in the late 1880's provides an important and rare opportunity to compare historic and contemporary patterns. By re-sampling the same areas, these researchers will better understand how climate warming and invasive species are affecting pollination. The urgency of the project stems from the rapid suburban development in this area; the study sites will likely be converted to housing subdivisions in the near future. This research will highlight insect species that have maintained important roles as pollinators through time, despite large changes in the environment, and will show which species are most vulnerable to climate or invasive species related extinctions. These results will have important implications for agricultural plant species that rely on insect pollination as well. The broader impacts of this research include research and training opportunities for students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels as well as a research technician and a post-doctoral associate.