DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The effect of temperature on the timing and strength of species interactions in a northern hardwood forest

森林为人类提供广泛的服务，包括水净化、木材、食物、碳储存和气候调节。它们日益受到虫害和疾病的威胁。本研究将记录气候变化对草食动物对木本植物物种的破坏、森林鳞翅目昆虫的爆发和候鸟数量的影响。该项目超越了传统的成对相互作用，研究了影响毛毛虫丰度的多种相互作用。它将为更彻底地了解影响森林食草动物的因素提供新的信息，从而为森林和鸟类保护工作提供信息。人类活动导致的温室气体和大气温度的增加，以及温度升高的直接生理效应，都有充分的文献记载。例如，温度升高会促进物候学或事件发生的时间，比如繁殖和发育。然而，个体生物生活在一个相互作用的物种网络中，物种丰度的变化取决于温度对其食物、竞争对手和捕食者的影响。本研究的重点是树木、鳞翅目幼虫及其捕食者之间的相互作用，以研究变暖对森林毛虫的消极和积极影响。它结合了历史观察、实验和模型来测试温度如何通过对毛毛虫生理的直接影响和对捕食者数量或食物质量的间接影响来影响毛毛虫消费者的数量。温度升高对这些消费者生理的正面直接影响，可能会（也可能不会）超过预期的负面间接影响，因为捕食增加或食物质量下降。该研究将通过研究捕食者对毛虫成功的作用，并将该项目扩大到包括温度梯度，从而显著改善正在进行的论文项目。培养有才华的年轻女科学家的工作也因此得到改善。

Forests provide a broad range of services to people, including water purification, timber, food, carbon storage, and climate regulation. They are increasingly threatened by insect damage and disease. This research will document the impacts of climate change on herbivore damage to woody plant species, outbreaks of forest Lepidoptera, and the abundance of migratory songbirds. The project reaches beyond more traditional pair-wise interactions to examine multiple interactions affecting caterpillar abundances. It will contribute new information to a more thorough understanding of the factors affecting forest herbivores, thus informing both forest and bird conservation efforts.Increases in greenhouse gases and atmospheric temperatures in response to human activities are well documented, as are the direct physiological effects of increasing temperatures. Warmer temperatures advance the phenology, or timing of events, of reproduction and development, for example. Individual organisms live within a web of interacting species, however, and changes in the abundance of a species with warming depend on how temperature affects its food, competitors, and predators. This research focuses on interactions among trees, Lepidoptera larvae, and their predators to examine both negative and positive effects of warming on forest caterpillars. It combines historical observations, experiments, and models to test how temperature affects the abundance of caterpillar consumers both through direct effects on caterpillar physiology and through indirect effects on predator abundance or food quality. Positive direct effects of warmer temperatures on the physiology of these consumers may, or may not, outweigh the expected negative indirect effects due to increased predation or decreased food quality. The research will significantly improve an ongoing dissertation project by examining the role of predators on caterpillar success and expanding the project to include a temperature gradient. The training of a talented, young, female scientist with thereby be improved.