"DISSERTATION RESEARCH:" Complex Communities Drive Feedbacks Between Genetic and Ecological Diversity: A Case Study of Plant Defense Traits in Brassica Nigra

由于人类对环境的影响，生物多样性在物种和遗传水平上继续下降。然而，科学家目前对物种内遗传多样性的下降如何影响复杂生态群落的功能知之甚少。植物具有许多与防御食草动物有关的特征，这些特征在种群内往往高度可变。我们将在黑芥（Brassica nigra）中使用两个这样的性状来研究性状的遗传变异如何影响不同植物物种之间的相互作用。在我们的实验中，我们将操纵几组食草动物的存在或不存在，以确定它们如何影响植物物种之间的竞争结果。我们还将探讨这种竞争结果是如何被B中防御性状的遗传变异所改变的。黑鬼此外，遗传变异是自然选择的燃料。因此，我们将研究这种遗传变异本身如何受到生态群落的影响，例如植物或食草动物物种的多样性，通过改变自然选择的模式。 这些发现之间的相互作用的遗传变异在一个物种和物种之间的相互作用，在复杂的生态社区将有重要的见解，在自然和农业系统的遗传多样性的管理。如果我们要准确预测随着遗传多样性的持续下降，群落将如何变化，那么了解遗传变异在复杂群落内的相互作用中可能发挥的作用至关重要。

Biodiversity continues to decline at both the species and genetic levels due to the impacts of humans on the environment. However, scientists currently have little knowledge of how declines in genetic diversity within species may affect the functioning of complex ecological communities. Plants posses many traits involved in defenses against herbivores, and these traits are often highly variable within populations. We will use two such traits in black mustard (Brassica nigra) to investigate how genetic variation in traits may affect the interactions between different plant species. In our experiments, we will manipulate the presence or absence of several groups of herbivores in order to determine how they affect the competitive outcome between plant species. We will also explore how this competitive outcome is altered by the genetic variation in defensive traits in B. nigra. Additionally, genetic variation is the fuel for natural selection. Therefore, we will investigate how this genetic variation is itself influenced by the ecological community, such as the diversity of plant or herbivore species, through altered patterns of natural selection. These findings on the interplay between genetic variation within a species and interactions between species in complex ecological communities will have important insights into the management of genetic diversity in both natural and agricultural systems. Understanding what role genetic variation may play in the interactions within complex communities is vital if we are to make accurate predictions about how communities will change as genetic diversity continues to decline.