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

物种之间的合作相互作用在自然界中很常见，在生物多样性的产生和维持以及生态系统的功能方面发挥着核心作用。然而，我们对自然界中合作相互作用的理解一直落后于对对抗相互作用（如竞争和捕食）的研究，这使得我们在维持生物多样性和生态系统功能方面的能力长期存在差距。这项研究的重点是北美树木和生活在树叶上保护植物免受疾病侵害的“保镖”螨虫之间的一种非常普遍但相对未被探索的合作相互作用。这项研究询问为什么有些树种与螨虫合作作为一种防御形式，而其他密切相关的树种则不这样做，测试了一系列关于促进（或破坏）自然界合作因素的假设。该项目还将包括开发一门新的科学课程，让学生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。总之，这项提案的研究和教育目标将导致有关经济和生态上重要的北美树木、它们的食草动物和保护它们免受病虫害的有益螨虫的公开数据。该项目还将为年轻科学家提供实践培训，并将包括开发旨在提高课堂研究可见度的工具。本研究将考察驱动植物-动物防御互惠关系投资的大规模变化模式的过程。具体来说，该项目将在三个尺度上调查domatia（可遗传的植物结构，栖息食肉和真菌螨）的生态、微观和宏观进化变化的驱动因素：(a)在北美东部森林群落中，(b)在三个属（Viburnum， Vitis和Prunus）中，(c)在三个地理上广泛分布的物种（Vitis riparia， Viburnum dentatum和Prunus sertina）中。这项进化研究与一项教育计划相结合，该计划通过开发一门名为“看到森林和树木：通过科学、艺术和社会研究树木”的新中级非专业课程，将数据目标与教学/培训目标结合起来。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），将人文和科学的观点结合到以研究树木为重点的课程中。总的来说，研究和教育目标将允许对进化和生态特征进行测试，这些特征与长期存在的关于跨地理和进化时间互惠共生的生态驱动因素的假设相一致。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

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.