DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Disentangling the roles of neighboring plant density and palatability in providing associational defense against herbivory within different habitat types

植物的食草性对自然界植物的生存、生长和繁殖有很大的影响，而植物的食草性会受到邻近植物的影响。一方面，如果食草动物选择吃它的邻居，那么拥有更美味邻居的植物可能会被吃掉更少。另一方面，如果草食动物更容易被食物更丰富的地方所吸引，那么拥有同样美味的邻居密度更高的植物可能会被吃掉更多。这两种效应都可能受到生境中草食的总体水平的影响。该项目将在两种不同的草食率的栖息地，即过去种植过或未种植过的长叶松林地，实验测试密度和适口性对邻居的影响。结果将增加我们对一个植物通过草食间接影响另一个植物的个体因素的基本理解。该项目的更广泛影响包括应用于恢复自然生境和控制农业作物损害。由于忽视了诸如草食等因素，在废弃农田上恢复森林可能会失败。这项研究发生在美国东南部一个极度濒危的生态系统中，邻近的植物被用来阻止农业系统中的草食，结果可能会显示如何提高威慑作用，从而提高产量。调查结果将提交给土地管理者。该项目还将培养一名博士生和两名本科生从事生态研究。

Herbivory can have large effects on the survival, growth, and reproduction of plants in nature, and the amount of herbivory on a plant can be influenced by its neighboring plants. On the one hand, a plant with more palatable neighbors might be eaten less if herbivores choose to eat its neighbors instead. On the other hand, a plant with a higher density of equally palatable neighbors might be eaten more if herbivores are more attracted to patches where food is more plentiful. Either effect might be modified by the overall level of herbivory in a habitat. This project will experimentally test the effects of density and palatability of neighbors in two types of habitats where rates of herbivory differ, longleaf pine woodlands that have or have not been cultivated in the past. Results will increase our basic understanding of the individual factors that underlie the indirect effects of one plant on another through herbivory. The broader impacts of this project include applications to restoration of natural habitats and to control of crop damage in agriculture. Restoration of forests on abandoned farm fields can fail because of overlooked factors such as herbivory, and this research takes place in a critically endangered ecosystem of the southeastern U.S. Neighboring plants have been used to deter herbivory in agricultural systems, and results may show how to improve deterrence and thus yields. Findings will be presented to land managers. The project will also train a Ph.D. student and two undergraduate students in ecological research.