LiT - Sublethal impacts of non-native species invasion

全球环境变化，包括栖息地丧失和非本地物种的引入，对本地动物构成了越来越大的威胁。这些威胁的致命后果已经受到了很多关注，但幸存下来的动物也可能遭受重要的后果；生长缓慢的，免疫系统受到抑制的，后代较少的人们对这些后果知之甚少，但它们可能对当地居民在面对这些威胁时坚持下去的能力产生重要影响。该项目将在实地和实验室采用一系列动物健康的生态和生物医学措施，从细胞免疫功能到个体生殖能力的措施，以检查全球入侵的火蚁对本地蜥蜴的影响。它还将测试长期暴露于这种入侵害虫如何影响这些入侵种群的威胁耐受性；当地居民是否能更好或更少地适应这种威胁的后果。本研究结果将有助于我们了解本地种群如何能够面对日益增加的环境变化而持续存在，并为指导全球生物多样性保护提供重要信息。该项目还将为学生和一般社区提供教育和培训。研究生和少数民族本科生，以及来自少数民族服务机构的K-12学生，将参与这项工作的实验室和现场组成部分，当地社区将通过展示和介绍这项研究的结果。

Global environmental change, including habitat loss and the introduction of non-native species, poses a growing threat to native animals. The lethal outcomes of such threats have received much attention, but animals that survive can also suffer important consequences; growing more slowly, having suppressed immune systems, and producing fewer offspring. These consequences are poorly understood, but they can have important implications for the ability of native populations to persist in the face of these threats. This project will adopt a range of ecological and biomedical measures of animal health in the field and laboratory, from cellular immune function to measures of the reproductive capacity of individuals, to examine the impact globally-invasive fire ants are having on native lizards. It will also test how long-term exposure to this invasive pest can influence the threat-tolerance of these invaded populations; whether native populations become more or less resilient to the consequences of this threat. The results of this research will help us to understand how native populations are able to persist in the face of increasing environmental change, and provide important information needed to guide the conservation of global biodiversity. This project will also provide education and training of students and the general community. Graduate and minority undergraduate students, as well as K-12 students from minority-serving institutions, will be involved in the laboratory and field components of this work, and the local community will be engaged through displays and presentations of the results of this research.