EAGER: Stage-structured predation between fish and aquatic insects

生态学中的一个根本挑战是预测一些物种的灭绝将如何影响其他被遗弃的物种。这很复杂，因为所有物种都与大量其他物种互动。它们以这些物种为食或被它们吃掉，形成了所谓的“食物网”。几乎所有关于食物网的研究都忽略了一个简单的事实，即随着个体的成长，物种之间的相互作用可能会发生变化。例如，一只蝴蝶作为毛虫吃的东西与作为成虫吃的不同。同样，不同的动物可能会把它当做毛虫吃，而不是作为成虫吃。过去研究的另一个问题是，一个栖息地的食物网被视为与附近栖息地的食物网完全不同。动物经常在不同栖息地之间迁徙这一简单事实通常被忽视。这个项目克服了过去研究中的这两个问题。研究人员将测试溪流中的鱼不仅会影响水下的猎物，还会影响水面上的动物。学生们将帮助收集数据，学习尖端生态技术。所有参与者将与学童和公众分享他们关于食物网的知识。该项目的成果将对淡水资源的管理和保护所有人的利益具有重要意义。更广泛地说，这个项目符合国家利益，因为人类依赖功能正常的食物网来娱乐、食物和水质。通过实地调查和操纵实验，该项目将研究鱼类和它们的昆虫猎物之间的阶段性结构相互作用，以及这些相互作用对相互关联的水陆生态系统的影响。水生昆虫在溪流和湖泊的底部以幼虫的形式发育。然后，它们会变态，在陆地生态系统中以有翼成虫的身份出现。水生昆虫浮出水面后，成为陆地捕食者的常见猎物。因此，鱼类对水生昆虫的捕食会影响陆地食物网。然而，猎物的生活阶段在生态特征上差异很大，这意味着它们对鱼类的捕食具有不同的敏感性。猎物的这种跨生态系统运动和阶段性结构捕食的结合意味着，鱼类捕食的影响不仅可以延伸到生态系统之外，而且在陆地生态系统中甚至可能比在水生生态系统中更强。基于目前以物种为中心的食物网方法，捕食者的这种影响无法预测，这使得这是一个有一定风险的项目，具有改变食物网被看待的方式的高潜力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A fundamental challenge in ecology is to predict how extinction of some species will impact other species that are left behind. It's complicated because all species interact with a large number of other species. They eat or are eaten by those species, creating what are called "food webs". Practically all studies of food webs ignore the simple fact that interactions among species are likely to change as individuals grow up. For example, a butterfly eats different things as a caterpillar than as an adult. Likewise, different animals are likely to eat it as a caterpillar than as an adult. Another problem with past studies is that food webs in one habitat are treated as totally separate from those a nearby habitat. The simple fact that animals often move between habitats is typically ignored. This project overcomes both of these problems with past studies. Researchers will test how fish in streams not only affect their prey under water but also how those prey affect animals above water. Students will help collect data, learning cutting-edge ecological techniques. All participants will share their knowledge about food webs with school children and the general public. Results from this project will be important for managing freshwater resources and preserving their benefits for all. More generally, this project is in the national interest because humans rely on properly functioning food webs for recreation, food, and water quality.Through field surveys and manipulative experiments, this project will examine stage-structured interactions between fish and their insect prey, and the consequences of those interactions for linked aquatic-terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic insects develop as larvae on the bottom of streams and lakes. They then metamorphose and emerge as winged adults in the terrestrial ecosystem. After emerging from the water, aquatic insects become common prey for terrestrial predators. As a result, fish predation on aquatic insects can affect terrestrial food webs. However, prey life stages vary dramatically in ecological traits, which means they are differentially susceptible to predation by fishes. This combination of cross-ecosystem movement by prey and stage-structured predation means that the effects of fish predation can not only extend beyond ecosystems, but could even be stronger in the terrestrial ecosystem than in the aquatic ecosystem. Such effects of predators would not be predicted based on current species-centric food web approaches, making this a somewhat risky project with high potential for changing how food webs are viewed.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.