DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolutionary Responses of Plants to Urban Environments

论文研究：植物对城市环境的进化反应

• 批准号: 1401222
• 负责人: Peter Tiffin
• 金额: $ 1.97万
• 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: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2015-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1401222&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Evolutionary; Responses; Plants

Cities are among the most heavily altered of human environments. They are hotter, drier, and differ in in air quality than neighboring rural areas and thereby city-dwelling organisms experience environments distinctly different than those experienced in rural areas. Therefore, urban environments are likely similar to predicted future climate conditions. Understanding how adaptations by plants allow them to thrive in cities will not only provide insight into how plant populations have survived in urban environments but also help us understand the potential effects of future climates on plant growth. A greenhouse study using seeds collected from Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN and neighboring rural areas revealed that plants from urban areas grow faster and larger than plants from rural areas. The proposed research, which will accompany ongoing manipulative experiments, is to sample multiple plant species from three other urban areas, (Chicago, Detroit and New York), in order to determine if there are similar suites of growth characteristics that differentiate urban from rural plant populations.Understanding adaptation and acclimation to urban environments, the focus of the proposed research, is important for urban biodiversity and conservation, for management of urban parks and for developing plant varieties that thrive in urban environments. The study of urban plant populations also provides an ideal system for scientific outreach and education. Many people think of ecology as understanding organisms in pristine environments, and evolution as a slow process, but this is not true and this proposed research focuses on understanding the interplay between ecological processes and evolutionary forces in urban environments. This work is being carried out at multiple high schools and community colleges engaging students and community members to get involved in understanding how plant populations may respond to climate change scenarios, which are expected to be characterized by shifts in abiotic factors similar to those experienced by urban plant populations.

城市是人类环境中最严重的改变。 它们比附近的农村地区更热，更干燥，空气质量不同，因此，城市居住的生物体体验到与农村地区经历的环境明显不同。因此，城市环境可能与预测的未来气候条件相似。 了解植物的适应如何使它们在城市中蓬勃发展，不仅可以洞悉植物种群如何在城市环境中生存，还可以帮助我们了解未来气候对植物生长的潜在影响。一项使用从明尼阿波利斯和圣保罗，明尼苏达州和邻近农村地区收集的种子的温室研究表明，来自城市地区的植物生长速度快，比农村地区的植物更大。拟议的研究将伴随正在进行的操纵实验，是为了从其他三个城市地区（芝加哥，底特律和纽约）品尝多种植物物种，以确定是否存在类似的增长特征，可以将城市植物人群与农村植物种群区分开来，理解对城市的适应性和适应性的研究，以使其对城市的研究，拟议中的焦点，您的范围和您的关注量，供您的托管服务，而您的饲养员和您的范围和您的范围和您的范围和您的范围界的范围和您的范围是您的范围，并且您的范围和您的范围是您的范围，并且您的饲养员和您的范围是您的范围，并且您的范围和您的范围是您的范围，并且您的饲养员和您的范围是您的您的范围和您的范围。在城市环境中壮成长的植物品种。城市植物种群的研究还为科学外展和教育提供了理想的系统。许多人认为生态学是在原始环境中理解生物，而进化是一个缓慢的过程，但这不是事实，这项拟议的研究重点是理解城市环境中生态过程与进化力量之间的相互作用。这项工作是在多个高中和社区大学进行的，吸引学生和社区成员参与了解植物种群如何应对气候变化方案的反应，预计该场景的特征是非生物因素的转变，类似于城市植物人群所经历的。