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

为期两个月的夏季本科生研究体验（REU）计划总部设在中央俄克拉荷马州（UCO）的大学，将在国际环境（莱斯沃斯，希腊）内让学生参与三个阶段的沉浸式学习体验。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，并影响整个北美的本地和非本地植物（包括农作物）。近几十年来，环境的变化大大减少了美国蜜蜂的数量。这种减少是由于群体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（所有这些都与传粉媒介的减少有关），气候变化还导致了生态系统改变的“完美风暴”，对传粉媒介产生了负面影响。该计划将使本科生参与蜜蜂和其他蜜蜂物种的能力的检查，以承受温度变化的直接和长期影响以及相关的长期植物群落变化使用行为，生理和生态方法。鉴于传粉媒介减少对经济和环境的影响，学生将这些发现传达给公众和科学界是一个关键目标。学生将被鼓励在整个程序中使用各种科学传播资源从事公共宣传。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，以及在全球范围内合作解决科学问题的经验。授予中央俄克拉荷马州大学（UCO）的REU网站奖将在赠款有效期内每年支持和培训7名学生，共计21名学生。这些学生参与者将主要从机构和背景中招募，否则将在STEM研究中提供有限的机会。参与者将根据标准进行选择，这些标准包括学习成绩的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很重要的文章。一名学生，在通信背景，将被专门招募担任首席科学传播。该学生将使用传统和社交媒体形式来传播学生参与和计划的结果。该计划分为三个阶段，第一阶段将包括在UCO的迷你课程，其中包括研究和导师培训中的负责任行为。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，学生将参与对世界上记录最好的植物传粉生态系统之一的团队调查。所有的实地研究都将在莱斯沃斯岛上与米蒂利尼爱琴海大学的希腊科学家合作进行。这些假设将测试关于气候变化在以下方面的作用的预测：（1）改变植物-传粉者相互作用（使用短期扰动实验），（2）传粉者学习能力（使用经证实的行为测定），以及（3）传粉者对温度变化的生理反应（使用温度限制的测量）。该计划将在UCO结束与学生的演讲。项目后分析将包括由UCO进行的调查，评估该项目的研究经验对参与者对自己科学能力增长的看法以及获得相关科学技能（计算，实验设计等）的影响。研究结果将引发人们对气候变化对地中海模型中植物传粉系统以及美国各地自然和农业生态系统影响的日益担忧，近四个世纪前，蜜蜂就在这些生态系统中被引入。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且通过使用基金会的知识价值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.