Collaborative Proposal: Dimensions: The evolution of novel interactions within a network of plant, insect and microbial biodiversity

地球上的所有物种都在包括植物、动物和微生物在内的复杂网络中与其他物种相互作用。长期以来，这些相互作用网络一直令生物学家着迷，他们感兴趣的是为什么一些物种相互依赖，以及这些关系对维持生物多样性有何重要意义。例如，为什么大多数以植物为食的昆虫在任何一个地方只吃少数几种植物？而且，这些昆虫中的许多是如何依赖于有益的微生物(真菌和细菌)的，这些微生物除了这些昆虫之外，在其他地方是找不到的？这个项目将探索这种特殊的相互作用是如何产生的。具体地说，研究人员将调查北美西部昆虫、微生物和一种重要的经济植物(紫花苜蓿)之间新的相互作用的进化。通过确定该研究系统中昆虫-微生物-植物相互作用的关键因素，这项研究将填补我们对生命多样性理解的重大空白，并增强我们预测全球变化将如何影响生物多样性和生态系统功能的能力。研究人员还将通过一个基于发现的公民科学计划与公众接触和合作，并将开发新的分析工具，使其他对物种如何相互依赖感兴趣的科学家受益。该项目研究了包括宏观和微观生物在内的相互作用的生物多样性的复杂网络，以回答一个基本问题：生物多样性在进化和维持新的相互作用中扮演什么角色？研究小组利用一个研究得很好的植物-昆虫-微生物系统来研究多层种间和种内多样性对于预测新的相互作用的进化的重要性，特别是梅丽莎蓝蝴蝶和微生物对紫花苜蓿的定植。该项目将生物复杂性的系统方法与操作相结合，使研究人员能够整合生物多样性的三个重点维度：(1)功能多样性，包括微生物、真菌、植物和毛虫相互作用如何塑造植物化学、幼虫性能和蝴蝶产卵偏好的差异；(2)遗传多样性，包括基因组变异在相互作用的植物和昆虫种群内和种群之间的作用，无论是在野外还是在实验环境中；(3)系统发育多样性，重点是昆虫的肠道细菌，以及植物的真菌和细菌内生菌。

All species on earth interact with other species in complicated networks that include plants, animals, and microbes. These interaction networks have long fascinated biologists, who are interested in why some species depend on each other and in how these relationships matter for maintenance of biodiversity. For example, why do most insects that eat plants consume only a few types of plants in any one location? And, how did it happen that many of these insects depend on beneficial microbes (fungi and bacteria) that are found nowhere else except with those insects? This project will explore how such specialized interactions arise. Specifically, researchers will investigate the evolution of new interactions among insects, microbes, and an economically important plant (alfalfa) in western North America. By identifying the key factors that underlie the insect-microbe-plant interactions in this study system, the research will fill a substantial gap in our understanding of the diversity of life, and enhance our ability to predict how global change will affect biological diversity and ecosystem function. The researchers will also engage and collaborate with the public through a discovery-based citizen science program, and will develop new analytical tools to benefit other scientists who are interested in how species come to depend on each another.This project examines a complex network of interacting biodiversity, including macroscopic and microscopic organisms, to answer a fundamental question: What role does biodiversity play in the evolution and maintenance of novel interactions? The research team takes advantage of a well-studied plant-insect-microbe system to investigate the importance of multiple layers of inter- and intra-specific diversity for predicting the evolution of novel interactions, specifically the colonization of alfalfa by the Melissa blue butterfly and microbes. The project combines a systems approach to biological complexity with manipulations that allow the researchers to integrate three focal dimensions of biodiversity: (1) functional diversity, encompassing how variation in phytochemistry, larval performance, and butterfly egg-laying preference are shaped by microbial, fungal, plant and caterpillar interactions; (2) genetic diversity, including the role of genomic variation within and among populations of interacting plants and insects, both in the wild and in an experiment context; and (3) phylogenetic diversity, focusing on gut bacteria in insects, as well as fungal and bacterial endophytes in plants.