Three Trophic Level Interactions in Holly Leaf Miner Populations

这项研究涉及天敌和宿主的影响 植物变异对群体动态和叶片成功的影响 采矿食草动物Phytomyza ilicicicola， 美国冬青 这项研究的目的是明确测试 第一种（寄主植物）和第三种（天敌） 营养水平相互作用，影响草食动物的动态， 如果不同时考虑两者，就无法理解 方面 初步研究表明，潜叶蝇的密度， 存活率和产卵偏好表现出一致性 树木之间以及郊区和森林之间的差异 林下栖息地 这些差异实际上提供了 测试天敌和寄主影响的自然实验 营养对草食动物成功的影响 研究工作将集中在 从四个相互关联的方面进行了研究：1）寄主植物 质量，特别是作为资源的树木之间的差异; 2） 食草动物对资源的密度和生存反应 树木之间的差异，以及资源的相互影响 产卵反应的变异和种群变异; 天敌的直接影响和 天敌和资源对草食动物成功的影响; 4） 遗传学、环境及其 互作对寄主质量变异的影响。 总之，研究的这些方面将有助于解决一些问题， 我们对植物/食草动物相互作用的立场的不确定性， 可能有助于林业生物防治策略的发展 和农业

This research addresses the impact of natural enemies and host plant variation on the population dynamics and success of a leaf mining herbivore Phytomyza ilicicola which specializes on American holly. The study is explicitly designed to test the idea that the first (host plant) and third (natural enemies) trophic levels interact to influence herbivore dynamics which can not be understood without simultaneous consideration of both aspects. Preliminary work has shown that leaf miner densities, survivorship, and oviposition preferences show consistent differences among trees, and between suburban and forest understory habitats. These differences provide in effect a natural experiment for testing the impact of enemies and host nutrition on herbivore success. The research effort will focus on four interrelated facets of the problem: 1) host plant quality, specifically variation among trees as resources; 2) density and survivorship responses of herbivores to resource variation among trees, and the mutual impact of resource variation and miner demic variation on oviposition response; 3) the direct influence of natural enemies and the interaction of natural enemies and resources on herbivore success; 4) and the relative influence of genetics, environment, and their interaction on host quality variation. Together, these aspects of the study will help to resolve some uncertainties in our standing of plant/herbivore interactions and may aid in the development of biocontrol strategies in forestry and agriculture.