RCN: The Herbivory Variability Network: Expanding beyond the mean to embrace higher moments in the ecology and evolution of species interactions

RCN：草食变异网络：超越平均值，拥抱生态学和物种相互作用进化中的更高时刻

• 批准号: 2203582
• 负责人: William Wetzel
• 金额: $ 55.53万
• 依托单位: Michigan State 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: 2022-10-01 至 2024-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2203582&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; Herbivory; Variability; Network; Expanding

The importance of variation to the outcomes of interactions between organisms is understudied. Typically, studies of ecological and evolutionary interactions focus on means of interaction metrics, although other aspects of distributions of those metrics, such as variance and skew, can also be critical for ecology and evolution. The Herbivory Variability Research Coordination Network will advance science by expanding thinking beyond a focus on means to include the causes and consequences of variability itself. To illustrate, variation in temperature and precipitation can be more important than averages to species performance and interactions. Less appreciated is that variation in the abundance of one species across space and time can drive the outcome of its interactions with other species and may even impact evolutionary trajectories. Understanding the role of variability in the ecology and evolution of species interactions is becoming increasingly important as climate change and biodiversity loss lead to increased environmental variability and decreased biological variability. The network will focus on herbivory because it is an ecologically and economically important interaction that is easy to measure, exhibits great variation within and among species, and is a key variable in many important ecological and evolutionary theories. The foundations developed for studying variability in herbivory, however, could be extended to better understand any type of species interactions. Because the causes and consequences of interaction variability relate to so many disciplines, the network will bring together ecologists, evolutionary biologists, mathematicians, statisticians, chemists, and other scientists to collaborate via working groups that tackle synthesis, theory, data, and education projects.This project will also afford research training opportunities. This project will form a Research Coordination Network (The Herbivory Variability Network, “HerbVar”), which will bring together scientists from across fields and career stages with the common goal of understanding the causes and consequences of interaction variability. This diverse and interdisciplinary network will (1) synthesize existing data and knowledge on interaction variability and identify directions for future work; (2) assemble a quantitative toolbox for studying variability in species interactions; (3) coordinate globally distributed data collection; and (4) educate students about the importance of variability and how to study it.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.

人们了解了变异对生物之间相互作用结果的重要性。通常，对生态和进化相互作用的研究集中在相互作用指标的手段上，尽管这些指标的分布的其他方面（例如方差和偏斜）对于生态学和进化也至关重要。草食变异性研究协调网络将通过扩展思维超出关注手段的思维来推进科学，以包括变异性本身的原因和后果。为了说明，温度和降水的变化比对物种性能和相互作用的平均值更重要。不太理解的是，一个物种在跨时空的抽象变化可以推动其与其他物种相互作用的结果，甚至可能影响进化轨迹。随着气候变化和生物多样性损失导致环境变异性的提高和生物学变异性的提高，了解变异性在生态学和物种相互作用的演变中的作用变得越来越重要。该网络将重点放在草食上，因为它是一种在生态和经济上重要的相互作用，易于测量，在物种内部和物种之间表现出很大的变化，并且是许多重要的生态和进化论的关键变量。但是，可以扩展用于研究草食性变异性的基础，以更好地了解任何类型的物种相互作用。由于互动变异性的原因和后果与许多学科有关，因此该网络将通过工作组通过工作组来解决合成，理论，数据和教育项目的工作组合作。该项目将形成一个研究协调网络（草食性变异性网络“ Herbvar”），该网络将使来自跨领域和职业阶段的科学家聚集在一起，其共同目标是了解相互作用可变性的原因和后果。这个潜水员和跨学科的网络将（1）综合现有数据和有关交互变异性的知识，并确定未来工作的方向； （2）组装一个定量工具箱，用于研究物种相互作用的变异性； （3）协调全球分布式数据收集； （4）教育学生有关可变性的重要性以及如何研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被视为通过评估而被视为珍贵的支持。

项目成果

Variability in Plant–Herbivore Interactions

植物与草食动物相互作用的变异性

• DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102221-045015
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: and Systematics
• 作者: Wetzel, William C.;Inouye, Brian D.;Hahn, Philip G.;Whitehead, Susan R.;Underwood, Nora
• 通讯作者: Underwood, Nora