REU Site: Pollinators, Climate Change, and the Aegean Archipelago

中俄克拉荷马大学(UCO)为期两个月的本科生暑期研究体验(REU)项目将让学生在国际环境下(希腊莱斯沃斯)进行三个阶段的身临其境的学习体验。原产于希腊和整个欧亚大陆的蜜蜂将作为该计划的模型研究生物。蜜蜂每年为全球数十亿美元的农作物授粉，并影响整个北美的原生和非原生植物(包括农业作物)。近几十年来，环境变化极大地减少了美国蜜蜂的数量。这一下降是种群崩溃障碍以及全球传粉者减少的结果。除了杀虫剂、寄生虫和病原体(所有这些都与传粉者的减少有关)外，气候变化还导致了一场对传粉者产生负面影响的生态系统改变的“完美风暴”。该课程将让本科生利用行为、生理和生态学方法，测试蜜蜂和其他蜜蜂物种抵御温度变化和相关长期植物群落变化的即时和长期影响的能力。鉴于传粉者减少对经济和环境的影响，学生向公众和科学界宣传这些发现是一个关键目标。在整个项目中，将鼓励学生利用各种科学传播资源参与公共宣传活动。希腊可以说是科学过程的发源地，它为学生提供了一个在具有重大历史意义的地理区域内学习科学原理的机会，并为全球范围内的科学问题提供了合作经验。这个授予中俄克拉荷马大学(UCO)的REU Site奖将在补助金有效期内每年支持和培训7名学生，总共21名学生。这些学生参与者将主要从机构和背景招募，否则在STEM研究方面提供的机会有限。参与者将根据包括学业成绩衡量标准和一篇关于为什么参与该项目对学生的职业生涯重要的论文来选择。有传播学背景的一名学生将被特别招募担任首席科学传播者。这名学生将使用传统和社交媒体形式来传播学生对该计划的参与和结果。该计划分为三个阶段，第一个阶段将包括UCO的一个迷你课程，其中包括研究中的负责任行为和导师培训。第二阶段将包括在希腊进行更长时间的实地和实验室研究，在那里，学生将对世界上有最好记录的植物授粉生态系统之一进行基于团队的调查。所有实地研究都将在莱斯沃斯岛与希腊科学家合作进行，这些科学家来自密蒂林的爱琴海大学。假说将测试气候变化在以下方面的作用的预测：(1)改变植物-传粉者的相互作用(使用短期扰动实验)，(2)传粉者的学习能力(通过证实的行为分析)，以及(3)传粉者对温度变化的生理反应(使用温度极限的测量)。该项目将在UCO以学生演示结束。项目后分析将包括由UCO进行的调查，评估项目的研究经验对参与者在科学能力和相关科学技能(计算、实验设计等)的获得方面的认知。研究结果将使人们越来越关注气候变化对地中海模式植物授粉系统的影响，以及近四个世纪前引进蜜蜂的整个美国的自然和农业生态系统。这一奖项反映了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。

The two-month summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program based at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) will engage students in a three-phase, immersive learning experience within an international setting (Lesvos, Greece). Honey bees, native to Greece and throughout Eurasia, will serve as the model study organism for the program. Honey bees pollinate billions of dollars of crops worldwide each year and impact both native and nonnative plants (including agricultural crops) throughout North America. In recent decades, environmental changes have dramatically decreased honey bees numbers in the United States. This decrease is the result of Colony Collapse Disorder as well as global pollinator decline. In addition to pesticides, parasites, and pathogens (all implicated in pollinator decline), climate change contributes to a “perfect storm” of ecosystem alterations that negatively affect pollinators. This program will engage undergraduate students in the examination of the ability of honey bees and other bee species to withstand immediate and long-term effects of temperature change and associated long-term plant community changes using behavioral, physiological, and ecological approaches. Given the economic and environmental implications of pollinator decline, student communication of these findings to both the public and the scientific community is a key objective. Students will be encouraged throughout the program to engage in public outreach using a variety of science communication resources. Arguably the birthplace of the scientific process, Greece provides an opportunity for students to learn scientific principles within a geographic region of great historical significance as well as experience collaborating on global-scale, scientific problems.This REU Site award to the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) will support and train seven students per year for a total of 21 students during the lifetime of the grant. These student participants will be recruited primarily from institutions and backgrounds that would otherwise provide limited opportunities in STEM research. Participants will be selected based upon criteria that include measures of academic performance and an essay as to why participation in the project will be important to the students’ careers. One student, with a background in communication, will be specifically recruited to serve as the lead scientific communicator. This student will use both traditional and social forms of media to disseminate student participation in and the results of the program. The program has three phases, the first of which will include a mini-course at UCO that includes Responsible Conduct in Research and mentorship training. The second phase will consist of a longer period of field and laboratory research in Greece where students will engage in a team-based investigation of one of the best documented plant-pollinator ecosystems in the world. All field research will be conducted on the island of Lesvos in collaboration with Greek scientists from the University of the Aegean at Mytilene. Hypotheses will test predictions about the role of climate change in (1) altering plant-pollinator interactions (using short-term perturbation experiments), (2) pollinator learning capacities (with proven behavioral assays), and (3) the physiological responses of pollinators to temperature change (using measurements of thermal limits). The program will conclude at UCO with student presentations. Post-program analysis will consist of surveys conducted by UCO that assess the program’s research experience impact on participants’ perceptions of their own growth in scientific aptitude and the acquisition of pertinent scientific skill sets (computation, experimental design, etc.). Research findings will inform growing concerns about the impact of climate change on plant-pollinator systems in a model Mediterranean as well as both natural and agricultural ecosystems throughout the USA where honey bees were introduced nearly four centuries ago.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.