DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Assessing the effects of climate change on biotic interactions structuring herbivore communities

气候变化可能会使下个世纪的平均气温升高2.6摄氏度。不幸的是，科学家缺乏必要的数据来准确预测这种增长对生物群落的影响。大多数关于变暖的实验都集中在单一物种上。相比之下，该项目将测试气温上升对多种植物、草食动物和捕食者物种的影响。为了研究温度是否会改变植物抵御害虫的有效性，研究人员将植物生长在不同的温度下，并在不同的时间暴露在昆虫食草动物的环境中。为了研究气温上升是否会增加同样的昆虫被捕食者吃掉的速度，我们将在当前和未来的温度条件下饲养整个植物群落、草食性动物和捕食者。然后将测量捕食性昆虫控制草食性昆虫数量的能力。这两个实验将确定气候变化可能如何影响植物和昆虫之间的复杂相互作用，这将有助于研究人员开发预测模型。入侵的昆虫物种对重要的经济作物物种造成了相当大的损害。重要的是，这里描述的两个实验中使用的许多食草动物都是农业和园艺害虫，或者与这些害虫密切相关。第一个实验的结果将决定经济上重要的植物是否能够在气候变暖的情况下充分防御虫害。同样，第二个实验将确定捕食者是否能够控制农业害虫的种群规模，这对防止害虫爆发可能是重要的。

Climate change is likely to increase average temperatures by 2 ? 6˚ C over the next century. Unfortunately, scientists lack the data necessary to make accurate predictions about the effects of this increase on biological communities. Most experiments on warming have focused on single species. In contrast, this project will test effects of increasing temperatures on multiple plant, herbivore, and predator species. To examine whether temperature alters effectiveness of how plants defend themselves against insect pests, plants will be grown under different temperatures and exposed to insect herbivores at different times. To examine whether rising temperatures can increase the rate at which the same insects are eaten by their predators, entire communities of plants, herbivores and predators will be reared under current and future temperature conditions. The ability of predatory insects to control populations of herbivorous insects will then be measured. These two experiments will identify how climate change might affect complex interactions between plants and insects, which will aid researchers in developing predictive models. Invasive insect species are responsible for considerable damage to economically important crop species. Importantly, many of the herbivores used in the two experiments described here are agricultural and horticultural pests or are closely related to such pests. The results of the first experiment will determine whether economically important plants will be able to adequately defend themselves against insect pests under warmer climates. Likewise, the second experiment will determine whether predators can control population sizes of agricultural pests, which could be important in preventing pest outbreaks.