Collaborative Research: BEE: Ecological and coevolutionary feedbacks in multi-mutualist communities

合作研究：BEE：多元互惠社区的生态和共同进化反馈

• 批准号: 2137554
• 负责人: David Althoff
• 金额: $ 93.66万
• 依托单位: Syracuse University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-04-15 至 2026-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2137554&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; BEE; Ecological; coevolutionary

Mutualisms are beneficial interactions between species that are important in natural communities and agricultural systems because they generate critical resources and services needed for species to persist. For example, pollination mutualisms are essential for fruit production in many crop plants, and pollinators are dependent on the food they obtain from those flowers. Mutualisms, in general, usually involve many species interacting with one another in complex communities, yet we know relatively little about the factors that govern them. Thus, as global change continues to alter ecosystems on Earth, there is a strong need to understand how species that form mutualisms change in response to the environment and to one another. For instance, the presence of competitive species that use the resources made by mutualists could alter the way in which the mutualists change in response to one another. This research will examine how large groups of mutualist species change in response to each other across different environments and how other competitive species can influence these changes. The project uses an experimental system based on brewer’s yeast to understand how species change in response to one another in complex mutualisms involving many species. In addition to testing how mutualisms change in species rich communities, an engaging video game will be developed to teach high school students about the economic value of mutualisms and how they change over time.The project will use a laboratory-based nutritional mutualism composed of strains of budding yeast that exchange nutrient resources with each other, thus simulating mutualistic species. Using this system, the researchers will manipulate the number of mutualist species in the communities and the amount of environmentally-available resources to address the following goals: 1) Evaluate how reciprocal trait changes (i.e., coevolution) vary in complex mutualist communities with and without traded resources additionally available from the local environment, 2) Test how coevolution influences the establishment of new mutualists in species-rich mutualist communities, 3) Test how a competitive species alters the coevolution of mutualists and how coevolution impacts mutualism resistance to these competitors. Results from the proposed study will identify the ecological contexts that affect coevolution in mutualisms, the evolutionary contexts that allows establishment of nonresident species, and how coevolution impacts ecological persistence of mutualists and competitive species.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.

互惠是物种之间的有益互动，在自然群落和农业系统中非常重要，因为它们产生物种生存所需的关键资源和服务。例如，授粉互惠对于许多作物的果实生产是必不可少的，授粉者依赖于他们从这些花中获得的食物。一般来说，互利共生通常涉及许多物种在复杂的群落中相互作用，但我们对控制它们的因素知之甚少。因此，随着全球变化继续改变地球上的生态系统，迫切需要了解形成互惠关系的物种如何应对环境和彼此的变化。例如，竞争性物种的存在会使用互利主义者创造的资源，这可能会改变互利主义者相互回应的方式。这项研究将研究大型互惠物种群体如何在不同环境中相互响应，以及其他竞争物种如何影响这些变化。该项目使用一个基于啤酒酵母的实验系统，以了解在涉及许多物种的复杂互惠关系中，物种如何相互变化。除了测试物种丰富的社区中互利共生如何变化之外，还将开发一款引人入胜的视频游戏，向高中生传授互利共生的经济价值以及它们如何随着时间的推移而变化。该项目将使用基于实验室的营养互利共生，由芽殖酵母菌株组成，它们相互交换营养资源，从而模拟互利共生的物种。利用这个系统，研究人员将操纵群落中互利物种的数量和环境可用资源的数量，以实现以下目标：1）评估互惠性状如何变化（即，2）测试共同进化如何影响在物种丰富的互利主义社区中建立新的互利主义者，3）测试竞争物种如何改变互利主义者的共同进化以及共同进化如何影响互利主义者对这些竞争对手的抵抗。从拟议的研究结果将确定生态环境，影响共同进化的互利主义，进化的背景下，允许建立非居民物种，以及如何共同进化影响生态持续性的互利主义者和竞争species.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。