CAREER: Working with student scientists to understand global patterns in the present and future ecological consequences of ants

了解物种的分布和它们所介导的过程是生态学的一个主要焦点。然而，还没有任何研究对地球仪上重要的生态动物群体的后果进行建模。在某种程度上，困难源于这样一个事实，即全球最好的研究群体（即，鸟类、哺乳动物），也是最难研究的生态影响之一。由于蚂蚁等优势昆虫群体具有巨大的直接生态效应，因此由昆虫介导的过程更容易研究。但是，由于缺乏关于昆虫群落、地理范围和多样性模式的全球数据，对这些影响的研究受到限制。利用全球合作者网络和学生科学家推广计划，拟议的工作将调查蚂蚁不同功能群的多样性和丰富性的气候驱动因素（例如，捕食者、食草动物或多面手觅食者），并根据实地数据建立蚂蚁影响的速率和动态的全球模型。 这些影响将包括蚂蚁的捕食、花蜜和其他糖的消耗、种子消耗和种子传播。然后，它将研究由于室外阵列的实验性变暖而引起的温度变化是否会影响基于全球模型的预期蚂蚁功能效应。最后，将开发一个蚂蚁介导的生态功能全球模式的综合模型，并用于预测气候变化情景下这些功能的变化。这项拟议的研究计划测试这些和其他情况下，然后使用测试的结果，开发蚂蚁社区的影响的综合模型（以及蚂蚁群落的变化）的植物和动物群落的今天和全球变化的背景下。课程模块将开发7- 12年级的学生在美国（在主要为少数民族服务的学校）和世界各地，教参与者气候变化，昆虫和昆虫学。所有学习模块都将在网上提供，以便任何希望参加该项目的学生科学家都可以参加。此外，该项目将涉及本科生，研究生和博士后的每一个组成部分，包括与年轻学生的互动。所有数据将张贴在我们现有的“全球蚂蚁”网站（http：//www.antmacroecology.org/）上，并永久存档在哈佛森林档案馆（http：harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu）。

Understanding the distribution of species and the processes they mediate is a major focus of ecology. Yet no studies model the consequences of ecologically important animal groups across the globe. In part, the difficulty stems from the fact that the best-studied groups globally (i.e., birds, mammals), are also among the most difficult ones to study in terms of their ecological effects. Because dominant insect groups such as ants have large, direct ecological effects, processes mediated by insects are easier to study. But studies of these effects have been limited by the lack of global data on insect assemblages, geographic ranges and diversity patterns. Taking advantage of a global network of collaborators and a student scientist outreach program, the proposed work will investigate the climatic drivers of the diversity and abundance of different functional groups of ants (e.g., predators, herbivores or generalist foragers) at global and local scales and develop global models of rates and dynamics of the impact of ants based on field data. These impacts will include predation, nectar and other sugar consumption, seed consumption, and seed dispersal by ants. It will then examine whether changes in temperature, due to experimental warming in outdoor arrays, influence ant functional effects as expected based on global models. Finally, a synthetic model of global patterns in ecological functions mediated by ants will be developed and used to project changes in those functions under climate change scenarios. This proposed research program tests these and other scenarios and then uses the results of the tests to develop synthetic models of the effects of ant communities (and changes in ant communities) on plant and animal communities both today and in the context of global change.Course modules will be developed for 7-12th graders in the US (in schools predominately serving minorities) and around the world that teach participants about climate change, insects, and biogeography. All learning modules will be made available online so that any student scientist that wishes can participate in the project. In addition, this project will involve undergraduate, graduate students and postdocs in every component, including interactions with the younger students. All data will be posted on our existing 'global ants' website (http://www.antmacroecology.org/) and permanently archived in the Harvard Forest Archives (http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu).