Species roles and the impacts of species loss in the formation and maintenance of an iconic mixed-species animal group

所有物种都参与与其他物种的相互作用，这些相互作用形成了生物多样性的模式。由于人类活动，这些相互作用正在全球范围内受到破坏，这种破坏可能对社区、生态系统和人类福祉产生连锁效应。在相互作用的物种群体中，正如本研究所考察的那样，物种在群落中的作用可能各不相同：一些物种的消失会对群落产生很大的影响，而另一些物种的消失可能几乎没有影响。决定保护哪些物种需要了解物种所扮演的角色，行为在维持物种相互作用中的重要性，以及特定物种的消失如何改变群落。然而，这些问题很少受到关注。此外，通过研究不同类型物种的消失是否、如何以及为什么会改变或破坏物种的相互作用，可以深入了解相互作用如何随着环境的变化而变化。该项目将包括对代表性不足的早期职业科学家进行培训，并在巴拿马开设一门本科实地课程，并辅以团队范围内的指导培训，以提高公平性和包容性。该团队还将开发开放教育研究模块，供多所大学的本科生使用。为了研究物种之间的相互作用以及行为与群落生态学之间的联系，研究人员将在热带森林中使用一种复制良好的网络分析和实验方法，研究一种混合物种动物群体，即追随军队蚁的鸟类。该团队将测试最近提出的理解混合物种动物群体组织的理论框架，并将通过增加新的行为角色、角色中的环境依赖性以及评估行为、净收益和群体结构之间的联系来极大地扩展该框架。特别是，本研究将评估这些群体中物种的行为角色，角色是否在不同的环境下有所不同，以及具有不同角色的物种的暂时消失是否会改变(1)群体形成阶段（群体最初形成时）的结构，以及(2)维持阶段（群体形成后）的行为、相互作用的净收益和结构。这将通过进行两个实验来完成-一个是在形成阶段的声学物种去除实验，一个是在维护阶段的物理物种去除实验。在每个实验中，具有不同行为角色的物种将被移除。行为观察将评估物种损失对招募、觅食、竞争和群体结构的影响。该项目将通过研究改变群体结构和社区抵抗力的潜在行为机制，并通过对网络如何应对物种损失进行新颖的实验性现场测试，独特地连接动物行为和社区生态学领域。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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。

All species are involved in interactions with other species, and these interactions shape patterns of biodiversity. These interactions are being disrupted around the globe due to human activities, and such disruptions can have cascading effects on communities, ecosystems, and human well-being. In groups of interacting species, as examined in this study, species may vary in their roles in the community: the loss of some species can have large impacts on the community, while the loss of others may have little to no effect. Determining which species to target for conservation requires understanding the roles that species play, the importance of behavior in maintaining species interactions, and how loss of particular species alters the community. Yet, these questions have received little attention. Further, insight into how interactions may vary in response to changing environments can be gained from examining if, how, and why the loss of different types of species alters or disrupts species interactions. This project will include training of underrepresented early career scientists and an undergraduate field-based course in Panama, supported by team-wide training in mentoring to increase equity and inclusivity. The team will also develop open educational research modules for use at the undergraduate level across multiple universities.To examine species interactions and the links between behavior and community ecology, researchers will study one type of mixed-species animal group, army-ant-following birds, using a well-replicated network analytic and experimental approach in tropical forests. The team will test a recently proposed theoretical framework for understanding mixed-species animal group organization, and will greatly expand upon this framework by adding new behavioral roles, context-dependency in roles, and evaluating linkages between behaviors, net benefits, and group structure. In particular, this study will evaluate the behavioral roles of species within these groups, whether roles vary across contexts, and whether temporary loss of a species with differing roles alters (1) the structure of the group during the formation stage (when the group is first forming), and (2) the behaviors, net benefits of interacting, and structure during the maintenance stage (after they have formed). This will be done by conducting two experiments - an acoustic species removal experiment during the formation stage and a physical species removal experiment during the maintenance stage. In each experiment, species with differing behavioral roles will be removed. Behavioral observations will be conducted to assess the impacts of species loss on recruitment, foraging, competition, and group structure. The project will uniquely bridge the fields of animal behavior and community ecology by examining the underlying behavioral mechanisms altering group structure and community resistance, and do so by conducting novel, experimental field tests of how networks respond to species loss.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.