Collaborative Research: LTREB Renewal: Large-scale removal of introduced ants as a test of community reassembly

合作研究：LTREB更新：大规模清除引入的蚂蚁作为群落重组的测试

• 批准号: 2203151
• 负责人: Neil Tsutsui
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 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: 2022-08-01 至 2027-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2203151&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; LTREB; Renewal; Large

Ecosystems are commonly disrupted by both natural and human forces. Species introductions are a costly and pervasive form of environmental change that cause impacts including degraded ecosystem services, agricultural damage, and species extinctions. Surprisingly little information exists, however, regarding the capacity of ecosystems to recover after introduced species are removed from ecosystems. This project examines the reassembly of native ant assemblages following the landscape-scale removal of the Argentine ant from Santa Cruz Island, California. A prominent urban and agricultural pest, the Argentine ant is also an ecologically disruptive invader. This species displaces other ant species, and its removal makes it possible to examine how native ants recover genetic diversity, species diversity, community structure, and ecological function. The insights gained from this relatively simple model ecosystem will provide general insights into how other ecosystems might recover from the impacts of invasive species, and perhaps other types of ecological disruptions. Multifaceted approaches, such as those employed in this long-term study, are needed to clarify the rate and extent to which ecosystems recover from different drivers of environmental change. Broader impacts related to this work include research support for PhD students from UC San Diego, research support for a postdoctoral researcher from UC Berkeley, and a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program for students from local, four-year Hispanic Serving Institutions (California State University Channel Islands and University of California, Santa Barbara). We are also engaging in K12 outreach collaborations that focus on the importance of insects. The experimental removal of introduced species can provide unparalleled opportunities to examine community reassembly. Invader-removal experiments, for example, can clarify how recovery is influenced by processes acting within a given system or, alternatively, reflects processes acting at larger spatial scales. The core objectives of this research are to quantify the structural (genetic diversity, species diversity) and functional (trophic position, ecological function) components of the recovery of native ant assemblages following landscape-scale removal of the non-native Argentine ant from Santa Cruz Island, California. Despite the obvious value of such studies, surprisingly few examine recovery above the level of single-species populations. In particular, only a handful of studies on invasions couple long-term, pre-invasion data with invader-removal experiments over temporal scales long enough to capture the succesion of native species assemblages. Even fewer invader-removal experiments measure recovery in terms of functional components, such as energy flow or trophic position. This research will provide an unprecedented test of the recovery of native assemblages after invader removal and will yield novel information about the factors that control the richness, composition and functional properties of an important terrestrial animal assemblage.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.

生态系统通常受到自然力量和人类力量的破坏。物种引入是一种昂贵且普遍的环境变化形式，其影响包括降级生态系统服务，农业损害和物种灭绝。然而，令人惊讶的是，关于生态系统从生态系统中删除的生态系统恢复能力的信息很少。该项目研究了从加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯岛（Santa Cruz Island）清除景观规模后，重新组装了本地蚂蚁组合。阿根廷蚂蚁是一个著名的城市和农业害虫，也是一种生态破坏性的入侵者。该物种置换了其他蚂蚁物种，其去除使得可以检查天然蚂蚁如何恢复遗传多样性，物种多样性，社区结构和生态功能。从这个相对简单的模型生态系统中获得的见解将提供有关其他生态系统如何从入侵物种的影响以及其他类型的生态破坏中恢复的一般见解。需要进行多方面的方法，例如在这项长期研究中采用的方法，以阐明生态系统从不同环境变化驱动因素中恢复的速度和程度。与这项工作相关的更广泛影响包括为圣地亚哥分校的博士学位学生提供研究支持，来自加州大学伯克利分校的博士后研究人员的研究支持，以及针对本科生四年制西班牙裔西班牙裔服务机构（加利福尼亚州立大学渠道和加利福尼亚大学圣巴巴拉大学）的本地学生的研究经验（REU）计划。我们还从事K12外展合作，着重于昆虫的重要性。引入物种的实验去除可以提供无与伦比的机会来检查社区重新组装。例如，入侵者驱动实验可以阐明恢复如何受到给定系统内作用的过程的影响，或者反映在较大的空间尺度上作用的过程。这项研究的核心目标是量化结构性（遗传多样性，物种多样性）和功能性（营养位置，生态功能）组成部分的成分，这些成分是从加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯岛的非本地阿根廷蚂蚁去除景观规模后天然蚂蚁组合的恢复。尽管此类研究具有明显的价值，但令人惊讶的是，很少有人研究恢复高于单物种种群的水平。特别是，只有少数关于入侵的研究将长期侵入前的数据与时间尺度上的入侵驱动器进行了长期，以捕获本地物种组合的成功。在功能分量（例如能量流或营养位置）方面，侵略者驱动器的驱动器实验甚至更少。这项研究将为入侵者拆除后对本地组合的恢复提供前所未有的测试，并将产生有关控制重要地面动物组合的丰富性，组成和功能性能的因素。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并通过评估值得进行评估。