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）资助的。授粉服务在生态和经济上都很重要，是我们吃的大部分食物的来源。目前，许多植物物种的授粉受到人为因素的威胁，包括气候变化和入侵物种。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。入侵植物可能会从它们经常光顾的本土植物那里偷走传粉者。测试授粉是如何被气候变化和入侵物种破坏的是困难的，因为在大多数情况下，没有关于植物-传粉者相互作用的历史信息。然而，19世纪80年代末伊利诺斯州卡林维尔市所有植物-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。通过对同一地区重新采样，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郊区的快速发展；在不久的将来，这些研究地点可能会被改造成住宅小区。这项研究将突出那些尽管环境发生了巨大变化，但一直保持着重要传粉者作用的昆虫物种，并将显示哪些物种最容易受到气候或入侵物种相关灭绝的影响。这些结果对依赖昆虫授粉的农业植物物种也具有重要意义。这项研究的广泛影响包括为高中生、本科生和研究生提供研究和培训机会，以及研究技术人员和博士后助理。

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.