Collaborative Research (RUI): Toward a stoichiometric theory of ant ecology--from colony performance to community composition

生物体的化学成分反映了它们的进化、它们的特征以及它们所处的环境。某些资源可获得性的差异，特别是对特定特征的表达至关重要的化学资源的稀缺性，可能会限制某些物种的丰度。将在巴拿马低地热带雨林的一个不同的蚂蚁群落中测试一组特定的特征，如抗饥性、工人规模、群体大小、群体增长率和群体节奏与化学成分和养分可获得性的联系程度。对特定营养的实验操作将被用来测试营养的可用性是否可以改变蚂蚁群落的物种组成，其方式与观察到的物种特征和化学成分之间的相关性一致。这个热带生物多样性科学项目是学生进入进化生态学的一个很好的切入点，本科生将参与研究的所有阶段。蚂蚁的熟悉性和实验可控性使其成为理想的教学工具，该项目的多个研究重点将为学生提供获得各种技能的机会。这项实地考察以巴拿马的巴罗科罗拉多岛为背景，将使学生接触到国际实地考察站充满活力的研究文化。总而言之，这些经历应该会为学生提供追求科学事业的技能、知识和动力。

The chemical composition of living organisms reflects their evolution, their traits, and the environment in which they exist. Differences in the availability of certain resources, and in particular a scarcity of a chemical resource that is critical for the expression of a particular trait, may restrict the abundance of some species. The extent to which a specific set of traits, starvation resistance, worker size, colony size, colony growth rate, and colony tempo, is linked to chemical composition and nutrient availability will be tested in a diverse community of litter ants in a lowland tropical rainforest of Panama. Experimental manipulations of particular nutrients will be used to test whether nutrient availability can shift the species composition of the ant community in ways that are consistent with observed correlations between species traits and chemical composition. This project in tropical biodiversity science is an excellent entry point to evolutionary ecology for students, and undergraduates will participate in all phases of the research. The familiarity and experimental tractability of ants make them an ideal instructional tool, and the multiple research foci of the project will provide opportunities for students to acquire a diversity of skills. The field work, set on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, will expose students to the dynamic research culture of an international field station. Together, these experiences should provide students with the skills, knowledge, and motivation to pursue a career in science.