The Influence of the Prey Physiological Stress Response on Predator-prey Interactions

捕食者-被捕食者相互作用是生态系统的一个共同特征，并已被证明驱动其结构，功能和动力学。即便如此，关键的知识差距存在的机制，猎物的行为，生理和形态反应捕食风险，包括这些反应如何影响捕食者的表现。本研究将使用一个模型系统（捕食性幼虫蜻蜓和蝌蚪猎物），以了解捕食风险和食物供应如何调节反捕食者的反应。这项研究将建立在大量实验研究的基础上，这些研究表明蝌蚪的恐惧反应决定着它们的行为（例如，活性）和形态学（例如，（2）对天敌的反应。所采取的方法将是综合性和跨学科的，内分泌测量与实验室实验和最佳猎物反应的计算模型结合使用。这项研究将包括K-12课堂访问，新的大学课程的开发，以及学生研究机会的提供，所有这些都旨在提高学生的准备，特别是代表性不足的群体，进入并在STEM领域取得成功。这项研究的具体目标是确定：1）猎物的神经内分泌应激反应如何随着时间的推移而运作，以及复杂的捕食环境和权衡的影响; 2）应激激素如何控制猎物表型反应的表达和整合（即，行为，形态）在生态环境中;和3）猎物表型如何影响捕食者-猎物相互作用。这一建议的智力价值集中在我们使用的模型生态系统，新颖的实验，和新颖的最优建模，以深入了解生理学和发育如何调节适应性特征的可塑性，以及这种调节的生态影响。确定的近端生理机制，支配表型表达将提高一般的理解的表型范围，猎物能够实现在响应捕食者，权衡影响成本和利益的特定表型，以及捕食者如何诱导猎物表型。确定猎物表型可塑性的机制也将有助于澄清生态群落中的非消耗性效应的作用。最终，本文产生的研究结果将提供重要的洞察力之间存在的联系，环境，生物体的生理反应和由此产生的表型可塑性，以及健身的后果，猎物和捕食者。

Predator-prey interactions are a common feature of ecological systems and have been shown to drive their structure, function, and dynamics. Even so, critical knowledge gaps exist with respect to the mechanisms that underlie the prey's behavioral, physiological, and morphological response to predation risk, including how those responses influence the performance of predator. This study will use a model system (predatory larval dragonflies and tadpole prey) to understand how predation risk and food availability modulate the anti-predator response. This study will build upon a large body of experimental research that shows that the fear response of the tadpoles governs both their behavioral (e.g., activity) and morphological (e.g., tail growth) responses to predators. The approach taken will be integrative and interdisciplinary, with endocrinology measurements used in conjunction with laboratory experiments and computational models of optimal prey responses. This study will include K-12 classroom visits, the development of new college courses, and the provision of student research opportunities all aimed at improving the preparedness of students, especially under-represented groups, for entering and succeeding in STEM fields.The specific aims of this research are to determine: 1) how the prey neuroendocrine stress response operates over time and is shaped by complex predation environments and trade-offs; 2) how stress hormones govern the expression and integration of the prey phenotypic response (i.e., behavior, morphology) in an ecological context; and 3) how the prey phenotype influences predator-prey interactions. The intellectual merit of this proposal centers on our use of a model ecological system, novel experiments, and novel optimality modeling to shed insight into how physiology and development regulate plasticity in adaptive traits and what the ecological impacts of this regulation are. Identifying the proximate physiological mechanisms that govern phenotypic expression will enhance the general understanding of the phenotypic range that prey are capable of achieving in response to predators, the tradeoffs that influence costs and benefits of particular phenotypes, and how predators induce prey phenotypes. Identifying the mechanisms underlying prey phenoptypic plasticity also will help clarify the role of nonconsumptive effects in ecological communities. Ultimately, the findings generated herein will provide important insight into the linkages that exist among the environment, an organism's physiological response and its resulting phenotypic plasticity, and the fitness consequences to both prey and predator.