DOCTORAL DISSERTATION: Testing mutualistic function in a multi-trophic mating system in mosses

大约在开花植物起源的3亿年之前，苔藓的祖先就已经在陆地上定居，并为陆地植物的辐射创造了基础。大约在同一时间，苔藓的小节肢动物（昆虫）出现在化石记录中。因此，苔藓和小节肢动物可能代表了最早的植物-昆虫共生关系，我们提出验证这一假设，即这两个伙伴在相互作用时都获得了健康利益。pi将测试昆虫是否将苔藓的精子转移到其他苔藓上，类似于蜜蜂将花粉从一朵花转移到另一朵花。pi还将测试这些昆虫是否会因为有一个不受捕食者攻击的安全产卵地点而受益。pi还将决定是否有食物奖励？由苔藓提供给昆虫。这些问题将通过综合生态学、分子遗传学和生理学的方法来解决。了解这种非被子植物授粉的适应性后果？系统将大大拓宽我们的知识传粉者的相互作用和相互关系的多样性在生命的早期历史。此外，该项目将被用作向波特兰公立学校的学生教授生态学、科学方法和生物生命周期的工具。中学生将在当地收集苔藓，并通过世代交替种植植物。同样，学生将通过昆虫的生命周期来饲养微节肢动物。学生收集的数据将在课堂上用作探索数据分析和假设检验的工具。

About 300 million years prior to the origin of flowering plants, ancestors of mosses were colonizing land and creating the groundwork for the radiation of land plants. Around the same time, microarthropod (insects) inhabitants of mosses appeared in the fossil record. Thus, mosses and microarthropods potentially represent the earliest plant-insect mutualisms, and we propose to test the hypothesis that both of these partners gain fitness benefits when they interact. The PIs will test whether insects move moss sperm to other mosses, akin to the way a bee moves pollen from flower to flower. The PIs will also test whether the insects benefit by having places to lay their eggs that are safe from predators. The PIs will also determine whether there is a food ?reward? provided by the mosses for the insects. These questions will be addressed using integrated ecological, molecular genetics, and physiological approaches.Understanding the fitness consequences of this non-angiosperm ?pollination? system will greatly broaden our knowledge of the diversity of pollinator interactions and mutualisms in the early history of life. Additionally, the project will be used as a tool for teaching ecology, the scientific method, and organism life cycles to students in Portland Public Schools. Middle school students will collect moss from local populations and grow plants through the alternation of generations. Similarly, students will rear microarthropods through the insect life cycle. Data gathered by students will be used in the classroom as a tool to explore data analysis and hypothesis testing.