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

论文研究：阐明邻近植物密度和适口性在不同栖息地类型内提供针对食草动物的关联防御方面的作用

• 批准号: 1405150
• 负责人: John Orrock
• 金额: $ 1.96万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 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=1405150&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Disentangling; roles; neighboring

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.

在自然界中，植食性对植物的生存、生长和繁殖有很大的影响，植物上的植食性的数量会受到其邻近植物的影响。一方面，如果食草动物选择吃它的邻居，那么有更多美味邻居的植物可能会吃得更少。另一方面，如果食草动物更多地被吸引到食物更丰富的地方，那么具有更高密度的同样美味的邻居的植物可能会被吃掉更多。这两种效应都可能受到栖息地中食草动物总体水平的影响。该项目将通过实验测试两种类型的栖息地的密度和适口性的影响，其中草食动物的速度不同，长叶松林地，有或没有在过去的种植。结果将增加我们的基本了解的个人因素，通过草食动物的一种植物对另一种植物的间接影响。该项目的更广泛影响包括应用于自然生境的恢复和农业作物损害的控制。 在废弃农田上恢复森林可能会失败，因为被忽视的因素，如食草动物，这项研究发生在美国东南部的一个严重濒危的生态系统中，邻近的植物已被用来阻止农业系统中的食草动物，结果可能会显示如何提高威慑力，从而提高产量。调查结果将提交给土地管理人员。该项目还将培养一名博士。学生和两名本科生在生态研究。