Collaborative Research: Trait evolution and the stability of ecological communities

环境变化，如与全球气候变化相关的变化，可能会影响自然社区的稳定。这些同样的变化也可能影响物种的进化，特别是在很短的时间尺度上(几个月到几十年)。这个项目的目标是了解如何衡量和预测自然群落的稳定性，特别是当物种随着环境变化而进化时。虽然传统上不将生态和进化过程放在一起研究，但越来越多的证据表明，这些过程相互作用并影响着当今的社区(即生态进化反馈)。进化生态学家面临的一个根本挑战是确定这些生态进化反馈对物种丰富度和群落稳定性的影响程度。该项目通过开发一个用于分析生态进化反馈的数学框架，并将该框架应用于自然群落中的物种来应对这一挑战。具体地说，研究人员将使用猪笼草植物群落来评估数学框架的适用性，并为将理论结果外推到其他自然群落提供经验基础。这些理论和经验相结合的努力将为生态进化反馈何时稳定或破坏生态群落提供洞察力。在人类活动是主导生态和进化力量的生态系统中，了解生态进化反馈特别重要。社会依赖许多生态系统服务，其形式包括食物、药品和能源，而这些服务又依赖于自然群落的稳定。在分析生态进化反馈对社区稳定性的作用时，该项目将提供一个框架，以更好地了解生态系统如何应对人为干扰，以及如何潜在地将其对生态系统服务的影响降至最低。该项目还将支持针对K-12教育的多项外联活动。特别是，该项目的调查人员将继续与戴维斯的加州州立数学和科学暑期学校(COSMOS)、开发供K-12课堂使用的数据块的GK-12计划以及戴维斯旨在促进年轻女性STEM(科学、技术、工程和数学)教育的多个组织继续接触。本科生将得到该项目的支持，招生工作将通过与生物学本科生学者计划(BUSP)、路易斯·斯托克斯少数群体参与联盟(LSAMP)、麦克奈尔学者协会和加州少数群体参与联盟(CAMP)在戴维斯的接口，针对传统上在科学领域中代表性较低的群体。

Environmental changes, such as those associated with global climate change, can affect the stability of natural communities. These same changes may also affect how species evolve, especially on very short time scales (months to decades). The goal of this project is to understand how to measure and predict the stability of natural communities, particularly when species evolve in response to environmental changes. While ecological and evolutionary processes were traditionally not studied together, there is mounting evidence that these processes interact and affect present-day communities (i.e. eco-evo feedbacks). A fundamental challenge facing evolutionary ecologists is to determine the extent to which these eco-evo feedbacks affect species abundances and the stability of communities. This project tackles this challenge by developing a mathematical framework for analyzing eco-evo feedbacks, and applying this framework to species in a natural community. Specifically, the investigators will use pitcher plant communities to evaluate the applicability of the mathematical framework and to provide an empirical basis for extrapolating theoretical results to other natural communities. These combined theoretical and empirical efforts will provide insights into when eco-evo feedbacks stabilize or destabilize ecological communities. Understanding eco-evo feedbacks is particularly important in ecosystems where human activities are a dominant ecological and evolutionary force. Society depends on many ecosystem services, in the form of food, medicine, and energy, which in turn depend on the stability of natural communities. In analyzing the role of eco-evo feedbacks on community stability, the project will provide a framework to better understand how ecosystems respond to anthropogenic disturbances and how to potentially minimize their impact on ecosystem services. This project will also support multiple outreach activities to K-12 education. Particularly, the investigators on this project will continue their extensive work with the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) at Davis, the GK-12 program to develop Data Nuggets for use in K-12 classrooms, and continued outreach to a number of organizations aimed at promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education for young women at Davis. Undergraduate students will be supported by this project and recruiting efforts will target traditionally underrepresented groups in the sciences by interfacing with Biology Undergraduate Scholars Program (BUSP), the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), the McNair Scholars, and the California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) at Davis.