RUI: Plant-Herbivore Dynamics in an Herbivore-Protection Mutualism

RUI：草食动物保护互利共生中的植物-草食动物动力学

• 批准号: 1457460
• 负责人: Manuel Morales
• 金额: $ 24.41万
• 依托单位: Williams College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-05-01 至 2019-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1457460&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Plant; Herbivore; Dynamics; Protection

Many mutualisms involve the exchange of a resource reward by one partner for some service by the other. Such interactions can influence the structure of ecological communities as well as the functioning of ecosystems. For example, in ant-protection mutualisms, ants protect plants or herbivores in exchange for a nectar reward. Ant mutualisms are hypothesized to have large effects on plant and herbivore species diversity and abundance. This project combines modeling and field work to explore the long-term consequences of a mutualism involving ant-protected herbivores. Understanding the feedbacks among plants, mutualistic herbivores and ants across multiple growing seasons will advance ecology by highlighting the potentially destabilizing effects of mutualisms on terrestrial ecosystems. This project brings together two researchers at a primarily undergraduate institution with a strong record of undergraduate training and incorporation of underrepresented groups in science. The proposed work will employ honors undergraduate research as its primary vehicle for outreach and training, including integrative empirical and theoretical approaches. By definition, the short-term effect of mutualism is to increase population densities. In herbivore-protection mutualisms, this increase in population density may lead to over-exploitation of host plants in the long-term with corresponding negative consequences for protected herbivores. Preliminary results show that herbivory by the ant-protected herbivore, Publilia concava, reduces the attractiveness of its perennial host-plant, tall goldenrod, to subsequent generations. Using a two-way factorial design experiment (presence/absence of herbivores and presence/absence of ants) in two tall goldenrod field sites, this project will experimentally evaluate the consequences of the delayed herbivore effect on host-plants for host-plant selection and performance of Publilia concava. Repeated censuses of plants, herbivores, and ants over two years will document if herbivory mediates plant responses that influence herbivore performance and future host plant selection. These data will also be used to test a generalized spatial model of herbivore-protection mutualisms linking host choice behavior, induced plant resistance, and herbivore population dynamics. Results from the proposal will increase understanding of the potentially destabilizing effects of mutualism and the effect of host-choice behavior by herbivores on herbivore-plant dynamics following delayed effects of herbivory.

许多互惠关系涉及一个伙伴用资源奖励交换另一个伙伴的某种服务。这种相互作用可以影响生态群落的结构以及生态系统的功能。 例如，在蚂蚁保护互惠中，蚂蚁保护植物或食草动物以换取花蜜奖励。 蚂蚁的互惠关系被认为对植物和草食动物的物种多样性和丰富度有很大的影响。这个项目结合了建模和实地工作，以探索涉及蚂蚁保护食草动物的互利共生的长期后果。了解植物、互惠食草动物和蚂蚁在多个生长季节的反馈，将通过强调互惠对陆地生态系统的潜在不稳定影响来推进生态学。 该项目汇集了两名研究人员在一个主要的本科院校与本科培训和纳入科学代表性不足的群体的良好记录。拟议的工作将采用荣誉本科研究作为其推广和培训的主要工具，包括综合经验和理论方法。根据定义，互惠共生的短期效应是增加人口密度。在食草动物保护互惠关系中，这种种群密度的增加可能导致对宿主植物的长期过度开发，对受保护的食草动物产生相应的负面影响。初步结果表明，食草动物的蚂蚁保护的草食动物，Publilia凹腔，减少了其多年生寄主植物，高黄花，后代的吸引力。 本项目采用双因素析因设计试验（有/无食草动物和有/无蚂蚁），在两个高大的一枝黄花田间试验点上，通过试验评估延迟食草动物效应对凹腔山椒寄主植物选择和表现的影响。重复普查的植物，食草动物和蚂蚁超过两年将记录，如果草食介导植物的反应，影响草食性能和未来的寄主植物选择。这些数据也将被用来测试一个广义的空间模型，草食动物保护互惠关系连接主机选择行为，诱导植物抗性，草食动物种群动态。 从建议的结果将增加理解潜在的不稳定的影响，互惠互利和草食动物的寄主选择行为的影响，草食动物植物动力学的滞后影响。