Novel approaches to detecting ecological interactions involving beneficial invertebrates

检测涉及有益无脊椎动物的生态相互作用的新方法

• 批准号: 2746106
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Nottingham
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2746106
• 关键词: Novel; approaches; detecting; ecological; interactions

Hoverflies are beneficial insects in agricultural landscapes: they are important pollinators of flowering plants, including crops, whilst their larvae are natural enemies of plant pests. Hoverflies are also important prey for predators, such as birds, spiders and wasps, which are themselves beneficial species. Additionally, hoverflies display visual mimicry of bees and wasps, which probably evolved because it fools predators into thinking that harmless prey are defended. Hence, predator-prey interactions probably influence hoverfly effectiveness in pollination and pest control, and the adaptive evolution of mimicry. Unfortunately, these interactions are poorly understood: we don't know which species are important predators of hoverflies, or whether hoverflies form a large part of the diet of other beneficial species. This project will combine genetics and immunology to quantify interactions between hoverflies, their predators and prey.Genetic techniques provide new opportunities to quantify predator-prey interactions via diet analysis. We will screen predators for evidence of hoverfly consumption, and characterise the position of hoverflies in food-webs associated with arable fields, testing for antagonistic interactions between natural enemies of crop pests, and assessing the importance of crop-associated prey in bird diets in agricultural and woodland habitats. Bird faeces will be collected from woodland a) adjacent to and b) distant from arable fields in Nottinghamshire and North Wales. Wasps, hoverfly larvae and spiders will be collected by sweep-netting, hand-searching and trapping in field margins and crops, on farms with and without wildflower margins deployed as part of agri-environment schemes. The student will use hoverfly- and crop-pest-specific PCR/qPCR assays to analyse the occurrence/quantity of hoverfly and pest DNA in faeces/guts from a range of predators, including birds, social wasps (Vespula spp.) and spiders. Metabarcoding of predator gut contents will be used to further characterise the contribution of hoverflies in predator diets. Short COI primers, previously used in diet analysis of insectivorous arthropods, will be validated in silico based on known prey taxa (hoverflies, wasps, bees, crop pests) and sequenced using in-house Illumina MiSeq and custom library preparation protocols. In addition to diet analysis, the student will screen blood samples from wild birds for antibodies to the venom of stinging Hymenoptera using anti -IgY, IgA and IgM immunoassays. These assays will utilize both complete venom preparations and purified venom components. Birds which have been stung by wasps, honeybees or bumblebees develop antibodies that can be detected for many months. Evidence of antibodies will provide an indication of ecological interactions between birds and beneficial insects, and will also allow us to evaluate the hypothesis that birds avoid mimetic hoverflies because of costly interactions with hymenopteran "models". The student may choose to explore this hypothesis further with behavioural experiments testing the responses of birds with known antibody profiles to 3D models of mimetic and non-mimetic hoverflies.Overall, we aim to provide insights into the importance of ecological and evolutionary links between hoverflies, other beneficial invertebrates, and avian predators. The results will help us understand the likely impact of biological control of pest insects, and the value of agri-environment schemes in boosting farm biodiversity.

飞蝇是农业景观中的有益昆虫：它们是开花植物(包括农作物)的重要传粉者，而它们的幼虫是植物害虫的天敌。苍蝇也是捕食者的重要猎物，如鸟类、蜘蛛和黄蜂，它们本身就是有益的物种。此外，飞蝇表现出对蜜蜂和黄蜂的视觉模仿，这可能是因为它欺骗了捕食者，让他们认为无害的猎物是被防御的。因此，捕食者-猎物的相互作用可能会影响飞蝇在授粉和害虫控制方面的有效性，以及拟态的适应性进化。不幸的是，人们对这些相互作用知之甚少：我们不知道哪些物种是飞蝇的重要捕食者，也不知道飞蝇是否构成了其他有益物种的主要食物。这个项目将结合遗传学和免疫学来量化苍蝇、它们的捕食者和猎物之间的相互作用。遗传学技术为通过食物分析来量化捕食者和猎物之间的相互作用提供了新的机会。我们将筛选捕食者以寻找捕食飞蝇的证据，并描述飞蝇在与耕地相关的食物网中的位置，测试作物害虫天敌之间的拮抗作用，并评估与作物相关的猎物在农业和林地栖息地鸟类饮食中的重要性。鸟类粪便将从诺丁汉郡和北威尔士a)邻近和b)远离耕地的林地收集。黄蜂、飞蝇幼虫和蜘蛛将在农田边缘和农作物中通过扫网、手工搜索和诱捕的方式收集，这些农场有野花边缘，也有野花边缘，这是农业环境计划的一部分。学生将使用飞蝇和作物害虫特异的PCR/qPCR方法来分析一系列捕食者的粪便/肠道中飞蝇和害虫DNA的出现/数量，包括鸟类、群居黄蜂(VesPula spp.)还有蜘蛛。捕食者肠道内容物的代谢编码将被用来进一步表征捕食者食物中飞蝇的贡献。以前用于食虫节肢动物饮食分析的短COI引物将根据已知的猎物分类群(飞蝇、黄蜂、蜜蜂、农作物害虫)在电子计算机中进行验证，并使用内部Illumina MiSeq和定制文库准备方案进行测序。除了饮食分析外，学生还将使用抗IgY、IgA和IgM免疫分析方法筛选野生鸟类的血液样本，以检测刺膜翅目毒液的抗体。这些化验将使用完整的毒液制剂和纯化的毒液成分。被黄蜂、蜜蜂或大黄蜂叮咬的鸟类会产生抗体，可在数月内被检测到。抗体的证据将为鸟类和有益昆虫之间的生态相互作用提供一个指示，并将使我们能够评估这样的假设，即鸟类避免模仿飞蝇是因为与膜翅目“模型”的代价高昂的相互作用。学生可以选择进一步探索这一假设，通过行为实验测试具有已知抗体谱的鸟类对模仿和非模仿飞翔的3D模型的反应。总体而言，我们的目标是提供对飞蝇、其他有益的无脊椎动物和鸟类捕食者之间生态和进化联系的重要性的见解。研究结果将有助于我们了解害虫生物防治的可能影响，以及农业环境方案在提高农场生物多样性方面的价值。