DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The effect of plant phylogenetic and chemical diversity on herbivore community structure and plant host herbivore damage

生态学家面临的最大挑战之一是找到适用于世界上所有或大多数生态系统的一般规则。其中一个似乎普遍适用的规则是，将自然植物多样性简化为单一物种种植，例如在农业和森林种植园中发生的情况，导致种植对虫害暴发的脆弱性很高。昆虫可以更好地找到它们的食物植物，而且单一物种种植的食物比更多样化的植物提供的食物更多。这项研究的目标是更清楚地了解导致简化生态系统脆弱性的因素。有三个因素可能是重要的：植物物种的数量，物种的进化关联性，最后是影响昆虫攻击的植物特性差异，这些昆虫是每种植物特有的。本研究的目的是通过创建具有不同进化和化学内在差异的田间实验植物群落，来测试这些内在植物差异对昆虫造成的损害模式的影响。这项研究将在哥斯达黎加的一个热带潮湿森林地点进行，使用与香料黑胡椒来源有关的植物物种。这项研究不仅将对生物多样性如何影响自然生态系统提供有价值的见解，还将丰富我们对植物-草食系统的知识，以便我们能够开发新的方法来管理传统和有机农业实践。此外，由于已知与被研究植物相关的物种会产生具有杀虫特性的化学物质，这些化学物质已成功地用于防治农业害虫，因此这项研究可能会发现具有类似价值的新化合物来控制这类昆虫。该项目还将为哥斯达黎加大学和热带研究组织的本科生提供协作和培训的机会。此外，该项目的实验室部分将在密苏里大学圣彼得堡分校进行。路易斯，将允许大学的两名本科生参加化学分析的方方面面。这将使学生获得“动手”的研究经验。

One of the great challenges for ecologists is to find general rules that apply to all or most ecosystems throughout the world. One such rule that seems to be universally true is that simplification of natural plant diversity to single species plantings, such as occurs in agriculture and forest plantations, leads to high vulnerability of the plantings to pest insect outbreaks. Insects can better find their food plants, and there is more food available in single species plantings than in more diverse vegetation. The goal of this study is to more clearly understand the factors that contribute to vulnerability of simplified ecosystems. Three components are likely to be important: the number of plant species, the evolutionary relatedness of the species, and finally, differences in plant traits that influence attack by insects that are unique to each plant species. The goal of this study is to test the effect of these intrinsic plant differences on patterns of damage caused by insects by creating field experimental plant communities with different evolutionary and chemical intrinsic differences. The study will take place in a tropical wet forest site in Costa Rica using plant species related to the source of the spice black pepper. This study will not only render valuable insight into how biodiversity can affect natural ecosystems, but also enrich our knowledge of plant-herbivore systems so that we can develop novel ways to manage conventional and organic agricultural practices. In addition, because related plant species to those being studied are known to produce chemicals with insecticidal properties that have been used successfully against agricultural pests, the study may discover new compounds of similar value for the control of such insects. This project will also provide an opportunity to collaborate and train undergraduate students from the University of Costa Rica and the Organization for Tropical Studies. Furthermore, the laboratory component of this project that will be carried out at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will allow two undergraduate students from the university to participate on all aspects of the chemical analysis. This will allow the students to obtain "hands on" research experience.