MSB: Conflicts among members of interacting symbioses: How do symbiotic fungi influence plant defense against leaf-cutting ants?

植物和昆虫拥有多种有益真菌。先前的研究主要集中在特定宿主-共生体对内的互惠互利，但很少研究更复杂或相互关联的共生体之间的相互作用。将研究属于两个独立共生体对的真菌之间的相互作用； i) 切叶蚁及其真菌花园，以及 ii) 热带植物和叶内生菌、叶内的隐性真菌。前者涉及蚂蚁和它们作为粮食作物种植的真菌。后者是一个广泛但不太为人所知的协会。在某些情况下，叶内生菌通过化学方式保护叶子免受食草动物的侵害，从而提供益处。实验室和现场实验将用于测试内生菌的存在是否会降低蚁群的收获效率和长期发展。这种成本的生态影响是重大的，因为成熟的切叶蚁会导致森林、重新造林和人类农业的严重落叶。除了对植物群落的影响外，该项目还将描述切叶蚁如何管理对其真菌作物具有潜在拮抗作用的多种微生物，并将阐明随着时间的推移控制此类感染的成本。切叶蚁每年对农业和农林业造成的损失估计达 10 亿美元。了解巢穴密度如何受到自然限制可能会导致环保的生物控制形式，并减少这些蚂蚁的经济影响。通过让巴拿马的合作者和学生参与进来，增加代表性不足的群体的参与，将产生更广泛的影响。该项目包括通过视频链接向巴拿马和美国 K-12 学生提供双语教育推广计划。允许来自不同国家的学生通过视频链接与研究人员以及彼此之间进行互动是否会同时为学生搭建桥梁？对生物和文化多样性的欣赏。

Plants and insects host a wide diversity of beneficial fungi. Previous studies have focused on the reciprocal benefits within a particular host-symbiont pair, but have rarely investigated interactions among more complex or linked symbioses. Interactions will be investigated between fungi that are part of two separate symbiont pairs; i) leaf-cutting ants and their fungal gardens, and ii) tropical plants and foliar endophytes, cryptic fungi within leaves. The former involves ants and the fungus they cultivate as a food crop. The latter is a widespread but less well understood association. In some cases foliar endophytes provide benefits by chemically defending leaves against herbivores. Laboratory and field experiments will be used to test whether the presence of endophytes reduces the harvesting efficiency and long-term development of ant colonies. The ecological implications of such costs are significant because mature leaf-cutting ants cause severe defoliations in forests, in reforestation plots, and in human agriculture. In addition to the implications for plant communities, this project will describe how leaf-cutting ants manage a wide spectrum of microbes that are potential antagonists to their fungal crops, and will elucidate costs of controlling such infections through time. Leaf-cutter ants cause an estimated US$1 billion in damages per year to agriculture and agroforestry. Understanding how nest density is limited naturally could lead to environmentally-friendly forms of biological control and lessen the economic impact of these ants. Additional broader impacts will result from increasing participation of under-represented groups by involving collaborators and students from Panama. The project includes a bi-lingual educational outreach program to Panamanian and U.S. K-12 students via video link. Allowing students from different countries to interact with researchers and with each other via video-link will simultaneously bridge the students? appreciation for biological and cultural diversity.