BRC-BIO: Understanding the Role of Species Interactions in Evolutionary Radiations Through the Evolution of Non-flying Mammal Pollination in the Iconic Plant Genus Protea

BRC-BIO：通过标志性植物普罗蒂亚属非飞行哺乳动物授粉的进化来了解物种相互作用在进化辐射中的作用

• 批准号: 2233118
• 负责人: Nora Mitchell
• 金额: $ 29.44万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-01 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233118&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BRC; BIO; Understanding; Role; Species

Interactions between plants and pollinators influence many ways in which flowers are shaped. Insects are the most common living pollinators, but many plants rely on other animals like birds and bats. In rare cases rodents or other non-flying mammals serve as pollinators to plants. The South African proteas, or sugarbushes, use many different pollinators, including non-flying mammals. Sugarbush species pollinated by rodents are different from sugarbush species pollinated by birds in important ways. They have different scents, different microbial associations, and different flower positioning. This project will sample sugarbushes in South Africa to determine the evolutionary relationships among species and to examine the traits and environmental circumstances that allowed non-flying mammal pollination to evolve. The work will engage undergraduate researchers in international field experiences and cross-cultural exchange of scientific ideas. Further, students will participate in cross-disciplinary sharing of ideas between biology and social work in a region that is rich in both plant and human diversity. Results from this project will provide a deeper understanding of how species interactions contribute to biodiversity and can help to predict how these complex systems may respond to undergoing global change. Little is known about the role of species interactions in contributing to evolutionary radiations. This project will help to understand the conditions that led to the evolution of non-flying mammal pollination in Protea and its role as a potential driver of diversification in this radiation. First, the work will increase the taxonomic breadth of sampled Protea species and enable the reconstruction of a more robust understanding of species relationships. Second, the improved understanding of species relationships will allow researchers to estimate how often pollination states changed over evolutionary time. Researchers will also reconstruct the ancestral pollination states of subclades and estimate the rate at which pollinator shifts have occurred. Finally, data on floral and whole-plant traits will be combined with environmental data to assess overall patterns of shifts to non-flying mammal pollination. This work will use a fascinating adaptation in an iconic radiation to understand the role of species interactions in generating diversity in one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth.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.

植物和传粉者之间的相互作用影响着花的许多形状。昆虫是最常见的传粉者，但许多植物依赖于鸟类和蝙蝠等其他动物。在极少数情况下，啮齿动物或其他非飞行哺乳动物为植物授粉。南非的Proteas，或称糖灌木，使用许多不同的传粉者，包括非飞行哺乳动物。由啮齿动物授粉的糖灌木物种与由鸟类授粉的糖灌木物种在重要方面有所不同。它们有不同的气味，不同的微生物组合，以及不同的花朵位置。该项目将对南非的糖树进行采样，以确定物种之间的进化关系，并检查允许非飞行哺乳动物授粉进化的特征和环境环境。这项工作将使本科生研究人员参与国际领域的经验和跨文化的科学思想交流。此外，在一个植物和人类多样性丰富的地区，学生将参与生物学和社会工作之间的跨学科思想交流。该项目的结果将提供对物种相互作用如何促进生物多样性的更深入的理解，并有助于预测这些复杂的系统可能如何应对正在发生的全球变化。关于物种相互作用在促进进化辐射中的作用，人们知之甚少。该项目将有助于了解导致Protea地区非飞行哺乳动物授粉进化的条件，以及它作为这种辐射多样化的潜在驱动力所起的作用。首先，这项工作将增加样本物种的分类广度，并使重建对物种关系的更强有力的理解成为可能。其次，对物种关系的更好理解将使研究人员能够估计授粉状态随着进化时间的推移而改变的频率。研究人员还将重建亚纲的祖先授粉状态，并估计传粉者转移的速度。最后，关于花卉和全植物特性的数据将与环境数据相结合，以评估转向非飞行哺乳动物授粉的总体模式。这项工作将利用标志性辐射中的一种引人入胜的适应来了解物种相互作用在地球上生物多样性最丰富的地区之一产生多样性中的作用。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。