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

变异对有机体之间相互作用结果的重要性没有得到充分的研究。通常，对生态和进化相互作用的研究集中在相互作用度量的方法上，尽管这些度量的其他分布方面，如方差和偏度，也可能对生态和进化至关重要。食草动物变异性研究协调网络将通过将思维扩展到关注包括变异性本身的原因和后果的手段之外来推动科学的发展。为了说明这一点，温度和降水的变化对物种的表现和相互作用可能比平均值更重要。较少被认识到的是，一个物种丰度在空间和时间上的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的丧失导致环境变异性的增加和生物变异性的减少，理解变异性在物种相互作用的生态学和进化中的作用变得越来越重要。该网络将重点关注食草动物，因为它是一种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巨大的多样性，是许多重要的生态和进化理论的关键变量。然而，为研究食草动物的变异性而开发的基础可以扩展到更好地理解任何类型的物种相互作用。由于相互作用可变性的原因和结果涉及如此多的学科，该网络将把生态学家、进化生物学家、数学家、统计学家、化学家和其他科学家聚集在一起，通过工作组进行合作，处理综合、理论、数据和教育项目。该项目还将提供研究培训机会。该项目将形成一个研究协调网络(草食可变性网络，“HerbVar”)，它将把来自不同领域和职业阶段的科学家聚集在一起，共同目标是了解相互作用可变性的原因和后果。这个多元化和跨学科的网络将(1)综合关于相互作用可变性的现有数据和知识，并确定未来工作的方向；(2)为研究物种相互作用的可变性建立一个量化工具箱；(3)协调全球分布的数据收集；以及(4)教育学生关于可变性的重要性和如何研究它。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.