CAREER: Cooperation on the tree of life: Understanding the drivers of mite-plant defense mutualisms via the integration of evolution, ecology, and education

物种之间的合作互动在自然界中很常见，在生物多样性的产生和维持以及生态系统的运作中发挥着核心作用。然而，我们对自然界中合作相互作用的理解在历史上一直落后于对抗相互作用的研究，如竞争和捕食，使我们维持生物多样性和生态系统功能的能力存在差距。这项研究的重点是北美树木和生活在叶子上的“保镖”螨之间的一种非常常见但相对未被探索的合作相互作用，并保护植物免受疾病的侵害。这项研究问为什么有些树种与螨合作作为一种防御形式，而其他密切相关的树种不合作，测试了一系列关于促进（或破坏）自然界合作的因素的假设。该项目还将包括开发一门新的科学课程，使学生能够参与植物合作互动的研究，并通过对树木的研究培养批判性思维技能。这项提案的研究和教育目标将共同产生关于经济和生态上重要的北美树木、其食草动物以及保护它们免受害虫和疾病侵害的益螨的公开数据。 该项目还将对年轻科学家进行实践培训，并将包括开发旨在提高课堂研究可见度的工具。这项研究将研究推动植物-动物防御互惠投资的大规模变化模式的过程。具体而言，该项目将调查螨domatia生态，微观和宏观进化变异的驱动因素（可遗传的植物结构，房子捕食和真菌螨）在三个规模：（a）横跨北美东部森林群落，（B）在三个属（荚属、葡萄属和李属）内，以及（c）在三个地理上广泛分布的物种（葡萄属滨岸葡萄、齿荚属和李属）内。这种进化研究与教育计划相结合，通过开发一个新的中级非专业课程，将数据目标与教学/培训目标相结合，该课程名为“看到森林和树木：通过科学，艺术和社会研究树木”。该课程将把研究活动纳入本科教育，以提高科学素养，并将针对传统上缺乏科学接触的群体（非科学专业），将人文和科学观点结合到一门专注于树木研究的课程中。研究和教育的目标将允许测试进化和生态签名与长期存在的关于跨地理和进化时间互利共生的生态驱动因素的假设一致。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

Cooperative interactions between species are common in nature and play a central role in the generation and maintenance of biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems. However, our understanding of cooperative interactions in the natural world has historically lagged behind the study of antagonistic interactions, such as competition and predation, perpetuating gaps in our ability to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function. This research focuses on a highly common, but relatively unexplored, cooperative interaction between North American trees and “bodyguard” mites that live on leaves and protect plants against disease. This research asks why some tree species cooperate with mites as a form of defense, while other closely related tree species do not, testing a range of hypotheses about the factors that promote (or break down) cooperation in nature. This project will also include the development of a new science course that allows students to participate in research on cooperative interactions in plants and develop critical thinking skills through the study of trees. Together, the research and education goals of this proposal will result in publicly available data on economically and ecologically important North American trees, their herbivores, and the beneficial mites that protect them from pests and disease. The project will also result in the hands-on training of young scientists, and will include the development of tools aimed at increasing the visibility of research in classrooms.This research will examine processes driving large-scale patterns of variation in investment in plant-animal defense mutualisms. Specifically, the project will investigate the drivers of ecological, micro-, and macro-evolutionary variation in mite domatia (heritable plant structures that house predaceous and fungiviorous mites) at three scales: (a) across eastern North American forest communities, (b) within three genera (Viburnum, Vitis, and Prunus) and (c) within three geographically wide-spread species, Vitis riparia, Viburnum dentatum, and Prunus serotina. This evolutionary research is coupled with an educational plan that integrates data objectives with teaching/training goals through the development of a new mid-level non-majors course titled “Seeing the forest and the trees: The Study of Trees through Science, Art, and Society.” The course will incorporate research activities into undergraduate education to enhance scientific literacy, and will be aimed at groups that have traditionally lacked exposure to science (non-science majors), combining humanities and science perspectives into a course focused on the study of trees. Together, the research and education aims will allow for tests of evolutionary and ecological signatures consistent with long-standing hypotheses about ecological drivers of mutualism across geography and evolutionary time.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.