REU: Collaborative Research: Ecological and Genetical Processes in the Metapopulation Dynamics of the Silene- Ustilago Host-Pathogen System

相互联系的种群（元种群）系统可能是自然界的规则，而不是例外。然而，对相互联系的种群自然系统的研究落后于对其潜在重要性的理论论证。定殖、灭绝和种群间的相互联系在白沉默/紫黑穗病植物-真菌病理系统的动态中起着重要作用。该系统在实验上是可处理的，并显示了宿主在抗性和易感性方面的遗传变异。该研究将继续对自然种群的超种群过程进行长期监测，利用实验种群评估种群连通性对本地动态的影响，并从经验和理论上研究遗传组成对宿主-病原体系统超种群动态的影响。这些结果将提供关于超种群过程影响宿主-病原体系统的程度以及组成物种的遗传变异如何影响这些过程的信息。这个系统具有普遍的意义，因为元种群概念为理解生境破碎化的后果提供了一个框架。

Systems of interconnected populations (metapopulations) are likely to be the rule rather than the exception in nature. Nevertheless, the study of natural systems of interconnected populations has lagged behind theoretical demonstrations of their potential importance. Coloniation, extinction, and population interconnectedness play an important role in the dynamics of the Silence alba/Ustilago violacea plant-fungal pathosystem. This system is experimentally tractable and shows host genetic variation in resistance and susceptibility,. The proposed research will continue the long-term monitoring of metapopulation processes in natural populations, assess the effect of population connectedness on local dynamics using experimental populations, and investigate empirically and theoretically the effects of genetic compostion on metapopulation dynamics of host-pathogen systems. The results will provide information on the degree to which metapopulation processes influence host-pathogen systems and how genetic variation in the component species affects these processes. This system is of general interest because the metapopulation concept provides a framework for understanding the consequences of habitat fragmentation.