COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: What makes a generalist herbivore? The interplay between top-down and bottom-up forces on herbivore diet breadth

合作研究：是什么造就了多面食草动物？

• 批准号: 2030753
• 负责人: Shannon Murphy
• 金额: $ 69万
• 依托单位: University of Denver
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2030753&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; What; makes; generalist

One-third of all species on Earth are insects that eat plants (herbivores) and they are key to environmental health. For example, insect herbivores are food for other animals, such as birds, snakes, and mammals. Insect herbivores pollinate flowering plants, however they can also be pests of food crops which can reduce our food supply. Thus, to conserve natural habitats and our food supply, we must know how insect herbivores are affected by their food plants and by the animals that eat them. After decades of research, we still do not know why insect herbivores feed on particular plants. Even though very few insect herbivores are generalists which feed on many different types of plants, generalists are the most damaging pests of crops. This research will study a common generalist herbivore to answer: What allows generalist herbivores to use new plants or to feed on many different types of plants? Answering this question is key for knowing when and how pests spread onto different crops. This project will educate elementary, middle, high school, and college students. A science camp for middle school girls from low income families will be established by this project.One of the major unresolved questions in biology is to understand why there are so many different species. Insect herbivores are an ideal study group for this question because they are so diverse. Host plant use is an important driver of insect herbivores’ diversification, however, most studies examining the link between diet breadth and insect herbivore evolution focus on specialist herbivores. Focusing on specialists does not tell us which factors lead herbivores to specialize or to maintain generalism. By focusing on generalists, this project will study how selective forces from host plant use and natural enemies can lead to diet expansion or contraction, and thereby affect the evolution and diversification of insect herbivores. Using a generalist herbivore (fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea) that feeds on over 400 plant species across a wide geographic range, this project will: 1) Determine whether diet breadth is a population or individual-level trait, and test for the genetic basis of diet breadth using a candidate gene approach; 2) Investigate if local adaption to host plants is predicted by diet breadth; 3) Test how natural enemy composition and abundance affect herbivore diet breadth; 4) Test if escape from natural enemies explains diet expansion to poor quality hosts; and 5) Examine how the interplay of selective forces from host plants and natural enemies may change over time. This research will provide critically needed tests of how selective forces influence generalist herbivores and diet breadth evolution.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.

地球上三分之一的物种是以植物为食的昆虫（食草动物），它们是环境健康的关键。例如，食草昆虫是其他动物的食物，如鸟类，蛇和哺乳动物。食草昆虫为开花植物授粉，但它们也可能是粮食作物的害虫，从而减少我们的粮食供应。因此，为了保护自然栖息地和我们的食物供应，我们必须知道食草昆虫是如何受到食用植物和食用它们的动物的影响的。经过几十年的研究，我们仍然不知道为什么昆虫食草动物以特定的植物为食。尽管很少有食草昆虫是以许多不同类型的植物为食的多面手，但多面手是农作物最具破坏性的害虫。这项研究将研究一种常见的通才食草动物来回答：是什么允许通才食草动物使用新植物或以许多不同类型的植物为食？ 回答这个问题是了解害虫何时以及如何传播到不同作物的关键。这个项目将教育小学、初中、高中和大学的学生。这个项目将为来自低收入家庭的中学女生建立一个科学营。生物学中一个尚未解决的主要问题是理解为什么有这么多不同的物种。昆虫食草动物是这个问题的理想研究群体，因为它们是如此多样化。寄主植物的利用是植食性昆虫多样化的重要驱动力，然而，大多数研究食物宽度和植食性昆虫进化之间的联系的研究都集中在专业植食性昆虫上。关注专家并不能告诉我们哪些因素导致食草动物变得专业化或保持通才。通过关注通才，该项目将研究来自寄主植物使用和天敌的选择力如何导致饮食扩张或收缩，从而影响昆虫食草动物的进化和多样化。利用一种多面手食草动物美国白蛾（Hyphantria cunea）在广泛的地理范围内以400多种植物为食，本项目将：1）确定食物宽度是群体还是个体水平的性状，并使用候选基因方法测试食物宽度的遗传基础; 2）调查食物宽度是否预测对宿主植物的地方适应; 3）测试天敌的组成和丰度如何影响食草动物的饮食宽度; 4）测试是否逃避天敌解释饮食扩张到质量差的主机;和5）检查如何从寄主植物和天敌的选择力的相互作用可能会随着时间的推移而变化。这项研究将提供急需的测试如何选择力影响通才食草动物和饮食广度evolution.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

项目成果

Protocols for rearing fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea) in a colony and basic methods for laboratory and experiments

在群体中饲养美国白蛾（Hyphantria cunea）的方案以及实验室和实验的基本方法

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: University of Denver Undergraduate Research Journal
• 作者: Robinson-Castillo, M.

Protocols for Rearing FallWebworm (Hyphantria cunea) in a Colony and Basic Methods for Laboratory and Field Experiments

在群体中饲养秋网虫（Hyphantria cunea）的方案以及实验室和现场实验的基本方法

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: University of Denver Undergraduate Research Journal
• 作者: Robinson-Castillo, Maelah;Mitchell, Audrey;Fasching, Amanda;Vidal, Mayra C.;Abarca, Mariana;Wimp, Gina M.;Bieber, Blyssalyn;Vyas, Dhaval K.;Murphy, Shannon M.
• 通讯作者: Murphy, Shannon M.

Diet‐mediated immune response to parasitoid attacks on a caterpillar with a broad diet breadth

• DOI: 10.1111/een.13148
• 发表时间: 2022-04
• 期刊: Ecological Entomology
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: D. Vyas;Shannon M. Murphy