COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Tritrophic interactions and the temporal stability of host-use by an oligophagous herbivore

合作研究：寡食草食动物的三营养相互作用和宿主使用的时间稳定性

• 批准号: 1257186
• 负责人: Eric Lind
• 金额: $ 5.29万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-03-01 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1257186&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Tritrophic; interactions; temporal

Many animals must balance the need to find food against the risks of being eaten themselves, by predators, when feeding. As a result, the best food source, or host plant, for an herbivore may fluctuate, because both plant nutritional quality and the intensity of predation change in time and space. The goal of this project is to assess the preference and performance of a common butterfly, the Silver-spotted Skipper, on an array of plant species that are currently used by its caterpillars as food plants. The researchers will construct an experimental garden of these common plants and measure differences in survival, growth, and reproduction of juvenile and adult skippers among plants over time. These data will be used to construct an ecological model predicting food plant effects on local populations of skippers. In addition, behavioral observations of predation on caterpillars in the field will be made to compare the activity and composition of the natural enemy communities found on different food plants. In combination, these approaches will provide a uniquely comprehensive investigation of temporal variation in plant-based and enemy-based measures of success in a common herbivore. A better understanding of the factors determining the diets of plant-feeding insects will contribute significantly to the design of effective biological control strategies to minimize economic damage caused by insect pests. Because the herbivore under study feeds on several invasive plants, the results of this research will be useful to land managers charged with protecting the integrity of natural communities. Extensive educational outreach to K-5 schools in the Washington, DC, area will provide both students and teachers access to hands-on projects exposing them to ecological principles, the practice of careful observation, and the scientific method. Teachers will learn to use local insects in classroom exercises that support science curricula.

许多动物必须在寻找食物的需要和被捕食者吃掉的风险之间取得平衡。因此，食草动物的最佳食物来源或宿主植物可能会波动，因为植物营养质量和捕食强度都会随着时间和空间的变化而变化。该项目的目标是评估一种常见的蝴蝶，银斑蝶，对一系列植物物种的偏好和表现，这些植物物种目前被其毛虫用作食物植物。 研究人员将为这些常见的植物建造一个实验花园，并测量随着时间的推移，植物之间的青少年和成年skippers在生存，生长和繁殖方面的差异。 这些数据将被用来构建一个生态模型，预测粮食植物对当地种群的船长的影响。 此外，还将进行田间捕食毛虫的行为观察，以比较不同食物植物上天敌群落的活动和组成。结合起来，这些方法将提供一个独特的全面调查的时间变化，在植物为基础的和敌人为基础的措施，在一个共同的食草动物的成功。更好地了解决定植食性昆虫饮食的因素将有助于设计有效的生物防治策略，以尽量减少害虫造成的经济损失。 由于所研究的食草动物以几种入侵植物为食，因此这项研究的结果将对负责保护自然群落完整性的土地管理者有用。 在华盛顿，DC地区的K-5学校的广泛教育推广将为学生和教师提供动手项目，使他们接触到生态原则，仔细观察的实践和科学方法。教师将学会在支持科学课程的课堂练习中使用当地昆虫。