POWRE: Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics of Cheating in Mutualisms

合作通常被认为反映了利益根本冲突的伙伴之间的微妙平衡。 因此，很难理解这些相互作用，无论是在人类之间还是在其他生物体之间，如何如此成功地持续下去。 这个POWRE奖将被用来检查什么时候“作弊”-也就是说，从合作叛逃-可以对不同物种之间的合作互动（互惠）的持续性构成风险。 这项研究将集中在植物之间的相互作用，授粉的动物（互利主义者），和收集花蜜的动物，但不仅不授粉，但实际上损害了花朵（骗子）采用新的理论模型的发展。 这项工作将大大有助于我们理解自然界中合作的普遍性和稳定性。

Bronstein9973521Cooperation is often thought to reflect a delicate balance between partners whose interests fundamentally conflict. It has therefore been hard to understand how these interactions, both among humans and among other organisms, apparently persist so successfully. This POWRE award will be used to examine when "cheating" - that is, defection from cooperation - can pose a risk to the persistence of cooperative interactions between different species (mutualisms). The research will focus on interactions between plants, the animals that pollinate them (mutualists), and the animals that collect nectar but that not only do not pollinate, but actually damage the flowers (cheaters) employing the development of new theoretical models. This work should make a significant contribution towards our understanding of the remarkable ubiquity and apparent stability of cooperation in nature.