Effects of Resource Availability and Community Composition on the Outcome of Multiple Species Interactions with Ipomopsis Aggregata

欧文生态学家和进化生物学家从根本上对生物体如何相互作用来塑造它们的丰度和设计感兴趣。虽然群落内相互作用的复杂性早已被认识到，但我们对多种生物如何最终塑造植物群落的生态和花卉特征的进化的理解仍处于初级阶段。传粉生物学家已经证明了传粉者在控制花卉设计方面的重要性，同时认识到拮抗生物在开花性状的生态学和进化中也发挥了作用。然而，拮抗剂，如草食动物、花蜜窃贼和种子捕食者，对植物-传粉者互惠共生的影响通常被孤立地考虑。为了充分了解多个物种与其寄主植物的相互作用和结果，我们必须考虑到种间相互作用的复杂性，并在资源可获得性和植物组成不同的群落中这样做。来自非生物和非生物因素的同时直接和间接选择压力的整合将最终在生态、微进化和宏观进化尺度上塑造植物繁殖和植物性状。本研究的目的是了解几个拮抗菌与其寄主植物和互惠传粉者之间相互作用的同时重要性，以及资源可获得性和群落组成如何影响这种相互作用的结果。实验将研究掠夺花蜜的大黄蜂、扩散前的种子捕食者、有蹄类草食动物和植物群落组成对亚高山植物Ipomopsis Aggregata繁殖成功的综合影响。这项工作在整合不同环境条件下多种拮抗剂对植物-传粉者互作结果的影响方面是新颖的。了解植物-传粉者-拮抗剂相互作用的复杂性将提供更深入的知识，了解物种如何在生物群落中生态和进化上联系在一起。

0089643IrwinEcologists and evolutionary biologists are fundamentally interested in the ways in which organisms interact to shape their abundance and design. Although the complexity of interactions within a community has long been recognized, our understanding of how a multitude of organisms ultimately shape the ecology of plant communities and the evolution of floral traits is still in its infancy. Pollination biologists have demonstrated the importance of pollinators in governing floral design, while recognizing that antagonistic organisms also play a role in the ecology and evolution of flowering traits. However, the effects of antagonists, such as herbivores, nectar robbers, and seed predators, on plant-pollinator mutualisms have often been considered in isolation. To fully understand the interplay and outcome of multiple species with their host plants, we must account for the complexity of interspecific interactions, and do so across communities that differ in resource availability and plant composition. The integration of simultaneous direct and indirect selection pressures from abiotic and abiotic factors will ultimately shape plant reproduction and plant traits over ecological, microevolutionary, and macroevolutionary scales. The aim of this research is to understand the simultaneous importance of interactions among several antagonists with their host plants and mutualist pollinators, and how resource availability and community composition affect the outcome of such interactions. Experiments will examine the combined effects of a nectar-robbing bumblebee, a pre-dispersal seed predator, an ungulate herbivore, and plant community composition on the reproductive success of the subalpine plant, Ipomopsis aggregata. This work is novel in integrating the effects of multiple antagonists on the outcome of plant-pollinator mutualisms under different environmental conditions. Understanding the complexity of plant-pollinator-antagonist interactions will provide a deeper knowledge of how species are ecologically and evolutionarily linked in biological communities.