MSB-ECA: Local and Migratory Spatial Foraging Affects Plant-Pollinator-Pathogen Networks

授粉是一项关键的生态系统服务，对生物圈的生存和稳定至关重要。传粉者在野生和农业系统中都是主要角色，因为超过87%的开花植物需要传粉者才能繁殖。花是植物与其传粉者相互作用的场所，其中传粉者接受花蜜或花粉以换取授粉。每朵花不仅接受多个个体的多次访问，而且经常接受多种传粉者的多次访问。因为许多个体从相同的花卉资源中取食，花朵也可以成为在传粉者之间传递病原体的场所。通过研究蜜蜂和蜂鸟，这个项目研究了这些相互作用。传粉者对花朵的访问是植物、传粉者及其病原体之间相互作用的区域和大陆模式的基础。该项目研究了生物学的一个新兴领域，并评估了种间病原体传播的潜力。此外，该研究有助于我们了解大规模过程（生物入侵、气候变化和传粉媒介迁移）如何影响植物、传粉媒介和病原体之间的相互作用。有了这些信息，我们可以做出预测并制定策略，以维持和保护健康和稳定的环境所必需的授粉服务。除了通过提供有意义的研究机会来促进科学、技术、工程和数学本科生的发展外，研究人员还开发了以当地物种、栖息地为特色的教育材料，并为K-6学生提供了指导日志活动，以探索他们与自然世界的关系，特别是与传粉者的关系。该项目考察了花卉界面上的相互作用。传粉者的本地觅食如何扩大到推动植物-传粉者-病原体网络的区域和大陆模式。植物资源被广泛的物种所利用，包括蜂鸟和蜜蜂。每次访花都为传粉者提供了获取和传播病原体的机会。本项目集传粉生物学、行为生态学、迁徙行为学、疾病生态学于一体。定量网络模型将通过将物候、植物多样性和丰度数据与直接观察和下一代测序产生的物种相互作用的实验、空间复制数据相结合来开发。在一种新的方法中，研究人员将结合植物-传粉者和传粉者-病原体的相互作用来创建植物-传粉者-病原体网络。这允许详细研究传粉媒介的觅食模式如何影响区域和大陆尺度上的病原体传播，以及入侵植物访问者和迁徙如何影响病原体传播。由此产生的网络将被记录在一个大的地理区域，包括一个全球生物多样性热点，加州植物省，它也经历了每年的大陆规模的迁徙。该项目的主要目标是研究由于各种人为原因引起的花卉访问波动如何影响传粉媒介病原体传播途径。特别是，物种引进，迁移和气候变化的影响将被检查。这样的合成将为植物传播病原体和疾病的途径提供见解和新的认识。

Pollination is a key ecosystem service vital for the survival and stability of the biosphere. Pollinators are major players in both wild and agricultural systems, as over 87% of flowering plants require pollinators in order to reproduce. Flowers are sites of interaction between plants and their pollinators, wherein pollinators receive nectar or pollen in exchange for pollination. Each flower receives multiple visits from not only multiple individuals but often multiple types of pollinators. Because many individuals feed from the same floral resource, flowers can also be sites for passing pathogens from pollinator to pollinator. Studying bees and hummingbirds, this project examines these interactions?how pollinator visits to the flower underlie regional and continental patterns of interactions among plants, pollinators, and their pathogens. This project investigates an emerging area of biology and evaluates the potential for inter-specific pathogen transmission. Furthermore, the research contributes to our understanding of how large-scale processes (biological invasion, climate change and pollinator migration) affect interactions among plants, their pollinators and their pathogens. With such information, we can make predictions and devise strategies to maintain and protect the pollination services necessary for a healthy and stable environment. In addition to promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Math undergraduates by providing meaningful research opportunities, the researchers are developing educational materials that feature local species, habitats, and guided journaling activities for K-6 students to explore their relationship with the natural world and pollinators in particular.The project examines interactions at the floral interface?how local foraging of pollinators at the flower scale up to drive regional and continental patterns of plant-pollinator-pathogen networks. Floral resources are utilized by a broad range of species, including both hummingbirds and bees. Each floral visit presents the opportunity for a pollinator to both obtain and transfer pathogens. This project integrates pollination biology, behavioral ecology, migration behavior, and disease ecology. Quantitative network models will be developed by combining phenology, plant diversity and abundance data with experimental, spatially replicated data on species interactions generated from direct observations and next-generation sequencing. In a novel approach, researchers will then incorporate plant-pollinator and pollinator-pathogen interactions to create plant-pollinator-pathogen networks. This permits detailed study of how pollinator foraging patterns influence pathogen transmission at the regional and continental scales and how pathogen transmission is affected by invasive floral visitors and migration. The resulting networks will be documented across a large geographic area comprising a global biodiversity hotspot, the California Floristic Province, which also experiences annual continental-scale migrations. The main project objectives are to examine how fluctuations in floral visitation due to various anthropogenic causes affect pathways of pollinator pathogen transmission. In particular, the effects of species introductions, migration, and climate change will be examined. Such a synthesis will provide insights and new understanding into the pathways of florally-transmitted pathogens and disease.