Conference: Hemipteran-Plant Interactions Symposium, July 11-14, 2011, Brazil

这个奖项支持了一个关于食草半足类昆虫和它们赖以为生的植物之间相互作用的国际研讨会。草食性半翅目昆虫与寄主植物之间的相互作用一直是许多科学研究的主题，因为草食性半翅目昆虫是世界上最严重的农业害虫之一。它们的口器被设计成微型皮下注射针，类似于蚊子的口器，但它们以植物汁液而不是血液为食。正如蚊子的特殊取食机制使其成为动物疾病的重要传播媒介一样，食草半翅目动物也是世界范围内最重要的植物疾病传播媒介，包括农作物疾病。它们的皮下针状口器足够细，可以刺穿单个植物细胞，这使得这些昆虫能够专门捕食特定类型的细胞。这种能力导致了这些昆虫和它们赖以为生的植物之间亲密的生理相互作用的进化。因此，在这些相互作用的研究中，未来的主要进展将需要一种跨学科的方法，将昆虫学家和植物生理学家结合起来。对这些相互作用的研究为确定植物对这些昆虫的抗性机制和了解植物病原体通过半侧媒介传播的机制提供了生物学基础，随着世界人口的增长，我们的农业资源越来越少，这两个领域越来越重要。昆虫学家和植物生物学家各自为营，在这一领域的进步也就到此为止了。未来半翅目与植物相互作用的重大进展将需要昆虫学家和植物生物学家之间的密切合作，这也是本次研讨会的重要性所在：将昆虫学家和植物生物学家聚集在一起，交流思想，建立新的合作。放眼未来，美国国家科学基金会的旅行支持将主要用于新的年轻研究人员，以便在他们的职业生涯早期促进跨学科合作。

This award supports an international symposium on the interactions between herbivorous hemipteran insects and the plants on which they feed. The interactions between herbivorous Hemiptera and their host plants has been the subject of many scientific studies because herbivorous Hemiptera comprise some of the world's worst agricultural pests. Their mouthparts are designed as miniature hypodermic needles, similar to those of mosquitoes, but they feed on plant sap rather than blood. Just the same as the specialized feeding mechanism of mosquitoes makes them important vectors of animal diseases, herbivorous hemipterans are the most important vectors worldwide of plant diseases, including diseases of crop plants. Their hypodermic needle-like mouthparts are thin enough to pierce individual plant cells which allow these insects to specialize feeding on particular cell types. This ability has led to the evolution of intimate physiological interactions between these insects and the plants upon which they feed. Consequently, major future advances in the study of these interactions will require an interdisciplinary approach that brings together entomologists and plant physiologists. Studies of these interactions provides the biological foundation for determining mechanisms of plant resistance against these insects and for understanding the mechanisms of transmission of plant pathogens by hemipteran vectors, both areas of increasing importance as a growing world populations stretches our agricultural resources thin. Entomologists and plant biologists working in isolation can advance this field only so far. Future major advances in Hemiptera-plant interactions will require intimate collaboration between entomologists and plant biologists, and therein lies the importance of this symposium: to bring together entomologists and plant biologists to exchange ideas and forge new collaborations. With an eye to the future, the travel support from NSF will go primarily to new young investigators in order to foster interdisciplinary collaborations early in their careers.