Research Starter Grant. The Consequences of Variation in Predator-Prey Interactions: Models and Tests Using a Seed-Beetle and Parasitoid

研究开端：捕食者-猎物相互作用变异的后果：使用种甲虫和寄生蜂的模型和测试。Inouye, Brian D. Florida州立大学学报：0309177版。拟寄生物是大多数生态系统中常见且多样化的成员，在限制食草昆虫种群中起着重要作用。部分由于其生态和经济意义，寄主-寄生虫相互作用已成为许多先前实证和理论研究的主题。为了配合正在进行的实地调查和建模工作，本项目将利用取食种子的野象甲（Callosobruchus maculatus）和寄生性异翅象甲（Anisopteromalis calandrae）作为模型系统，研究影响种群调节和稳定的因素。被认为稳定寄主和寄生蜂种群动态的主要机制之一是寄生蜂攻击率的异质性。当寄生物必须在不均匀的环境中寻找寄主时，例如寄主是多食性草食性昆虫，以多种不同类型的资源植物为食时，就可能发生这种异质性。本研究项目的一个目标是参数化宿主-寄生蜂相互作用的模型，包括这些宿主的替代资源，以检验关于宿主和寄生蜂种群稳定性的假设。首先对几种豆科植物种子中寄生蜂对黄斑弧菌的功能响应进行了分析，以确定引起不同寄生蜂攻击模式的替代资源。在实验的第二阶段，将测试资源驱动的异质性对寄主和寄生蜂种群动态稳定性的影响。为了描述长期种群动态，将使用长响应面实验来参数化寄主-寄生蜂联合招募曲线。这些实验将允许测试寄生蜂密度对功能反应的重要性，作为种群模型参数化过程的一部分。发展这些物种作为一个模型系统将进一步推动理论和实验相结合的长期目标，以了解空间异质性和非线性在种群动态和群落结构中的作用，并开发新的应用统计方法来检验新的生态学理论。

Research Starter: The Consequences of Variation in Predator-Prey Interactions: Models and Tests Using a Seed-Beetle and Parasitoid.Inouye, Brian D. Florida State University DEB: 0309177Parasitoids are common and diverse members of most ecosystems that play an important role in limiting insect herbivore populations. Due in part to their ecological and economic significance, host-parasitoid interactions have been the subject of many previous empirical and theoretical studies. To compliment on-going fieldwork and modeling efforts, this project will use populations of the seed-feeding bruchid weevil Callosobruchus maculatus and the parasitoid Anisopteromalis calandrae as a model system for studying factors affecting population regulation and stability. One of the major mechanisms thought to stabilize host and parasitoid population dynamics is heterogeneity in parasitoid attack rates. Such heterogeneity may occur when a parasitoid must search for its host in a patchy environment, for example when the host is a polyphagous herbivorous insect that feeds differentially on a number of types of resource plants. One goal of this research project will be to parameterize a model of host-parasitoid interactions including these alternative resources of the host, in order to test hypotheses about host and parasitoid population stability. First the functional responses of parasitoids attacking C. maculatus in several species or varieties of legume seeds will be characterized, in order to identify alternative resources that provoke different patterns of parasitoid attack. In a second stage of experiments, the effects of the resource driven heterogeneity on the stability of the host and parasitoid population dynamics will be tested. To characterize long-term population dynamics generation-long response surface experiments will be used to parameterize joint host-parasitoid recruitment curves. These experiments will allow a test of the importance of parasitoid density for functional responses, as part of the process of parameterizing the population models. Developing these species as a model system will further the long-term goals of blending theory and experiments to understand the roles of spatial heterogeneity and nonlinearities in population dynamics and community structure, and developing novel applications of statistical methods for testing new ecological theory.