COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EAGER: Evolution of Plant Defense: A Multigenerational Selection Experiment in the Field

合作研究：EAGER：植物防御的进化：田间多代选择实验

• 批准号: 0950231
• 负责人: Anurag Agrawal
• 金额: $ 24.15万
• 依托单位: Cornell Univ - State: AWDS MADE PRIOR MAY 2010
• 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: 2009-10-01 至 2012-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0950231&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; EAGER; Evolution; Plant

Plants, being at the base of almost all food chains, are responsible for feeding the world. In other words, plants provide the necessary energy to sustain all animal life either directly (through herbivory) or indirectly (because carnivores eat herbivores). Because of this tremendous pressure on plants, they have evolved a remarkable diversity of strategies to defend against being consumed. For example, plants possess a variety of heritable physical (e.g., thorns, spines) and chemical (e.g., toxins such as cyanide) traits that ward off herbivores. Theory, observations, and experiments have all implicated insect herbivores as key agents shaping the evolution of plant traits. How plant populations respond to this selection in real time over multiple generations, however, is virtually unknown. This project will address this major gap in current scientific understanding with newly developed molecular techniques to fingerprint genetic individuals of the common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis). Because this project will be conducted in field plots containing plants of known genetic identity either subjected to or protected from insect herbivory, the investigators will gain new insight into both the evolutionary process in general and the specific traits that evolve in response to insect herbivore attack under natural environmental conditions. This project will be one of the most rigorous investigations of the evolution of plant defense performed to date, and will assess the impact of herbivores on changes in plant chemical defenses and genetic composition of the population. In addition, responses of the insect community to changes in the genetic make-up of the plant populations will be determined.Broader impacts of this study include educational efforts directed to K-12 students, undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public. Because the work proposed examines evolutionary changes over relatively short time scales, engaging teachers and the general public can be readily accomplished through outreach efforts and field trips. The message of evolution by natural selection and plant-herbivore interactions will be taken into K-12 classrooms via an established program at Cornell University (Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers).

植物几乎处于所有食物链的基础，负责养活世界。 换句话说，植物直接（通过食草动物）或间接（因为食肉动物吃食草动物）提供维持所有动物生命所需的能量。 由于植物面临巨大的压力，它们进化出了多种多样的策略来防御被消耗。例如，植物具有多种可遗传的物理（例如刺、刺）和化学（例如氰化物等毒素）特征，可以抵御食草动物。 理论、观察和实验都表明昆虫食草动物是影响植物性状进化的关键因素。 然而，植物种群如何在多代中实时响应这种选择，实际上是未知的。 该项目将利用新开发的分子技术来解决当前科学认识中的这一重大差距，以对普通月见草（Oenothera biennis）的遗传个体进行指纹识别。由于该项目将在含有已知遗传特性的植物的田间进行，这些植物要么受到昆虫食草动物的侵害，要么受到保护，因此研究人员将对一般的进化过程以及在自然环境条件下响应昆虫食草动物攻击而进化的特定性状获得新的见解。该项目将是迄今为止对植物防御进化最严格的研究之一，并将评估食草动物对植物化学防御和种群遗传组成变化的影响。 此外，还将确定昆虫群落对植物种群基因组成变化的反应。这项研究的更广泛影响包括针对 K-12 学生、本科生、研究生和公众的教育工作。 由于拟议的工作研究了相对较短时间范围内的进化变化，因此可以通过外展工作和实地考察轻松地吸引教师和公众的参与。 自然选择和植物与食草动物相互作用的进化信息将通过康奈尔大学（康奈尔生物教师学院）的既定项目引入 K-12 课堂。