EAGER: Dispersal links local and regional scales: consequences of local conditions for dispersal behavior

生物通过扩散适应不断变化的环境条件的能力经常被认为是物种科普气候变化的一般机制。 然而，生物体的扩散能力本身也受到环境变化的影响。 这个EAGER项目将探索温度、生物发育、体型和散布如何相互作用，以确定生物通过进入新适合的区域来应对环境变化的能力。 生物体在发育过程中所经历的温度会影响成年动物所拥有的特征，包括整体身体大小和身体不同部位的相对大小。 对于许多动物，特别是昆虫，温暖的饲养条件导致动物发育更快，成年后更小。 由于较小的动物通常具有更有限的运动能力，气候变暖本身可能会对生物体的运动能力产生负面影响，并增加其灭绝风险，超过使用当前扩散率预测未来范围变化的模型的预期。 本项目将以蜻蜓为例，研究环境温度对蜻蜓生长和后期扩散性能的影响。 将操纵蜻蜓的饲养温度，并记录对成虫翅膀形状和成虫体型的影响，这两者对运动都很关键。 将测量蜻蜓在景观中的运动，以量化它们饲养的温度条件如何影响成虫的扩散。 量化生物体发育与扩散之间的联系以应对气候变暖具有挑战性;然而，提供气候变暖如何影响物种持久性的一般见解的潜力证明了EAGER奖的合理性。该项目将涉及一些本科生作为研究团队的重要成员，包括传统上在STEM中代表性不足的群体的学生。 学生将接受研究培训和指导，这将提高他们在科学事业的教育和就业前景。 该项目还将加强与加州戴维斯的Bohart昆虫学博物馆的伙伴关系，以编制可供当地学校教师使用的昆虫生态学宣传材料，激发学生对科学的兴趣。

The ability of organisms to adjust to shifting environmental conditions through dispersal is often cited as a general mechanism through which species may cope with climate change. However, the ability of organisms to disperse is itself influenced by environmental change. This EAGER project will explore how temperature, organism development, body size, and dispersal interact to determine the ability of organisms to respond to environmental change by moving into newly-suitable areas. The temperatures experienced by an organism during its development can affect the traits possessed by the adult animal, including overall body size and the relative sizes of different parts of the body. For many animals, particularly insects, warmer rearing conditions result in animals that develop more quickly and are smaller as adults. Since smaller animals often have more restricted movement abilities, climate warming itself may negatively influence the movement ability of organisms and increase their extinction risk more than anticipated from models that use the current dispersal rates to project future range shifts. This project will use dragonflies as a case study of the effects of environmental temperature on growth and later dispersal performance. The rearing temperatures for dragonflies will be manipulated and the effect on adult wing shape and adult body size documented, both of which are critical for movement. Dragonfly movements though the landscape will be measured to quantify how the temperature conditions under which they were reared affect adult dispersal. Quantifying the link from organism development to dispersal in response to climate warming is challenging; however, the potential to provide general insights into how a warming climate will affect species persistence justifies this as an EAGER award.The project will involve a number of undergraduate students as critical members of the research team, including students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. Students will receive research training and mentoring that will enhance their educational and employment prospects in science careers. This project will also enhance a partnership with the Bohart Entomology Museum in Davis, California to develop outreach materials on dragonfly ecology that can be used by local school teachers to spark student interest in science.