DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Disentangling the roles of neighboring plant density and palatability in providing associational defense against herbivory within different habitat types

草食对自然界中植物的生存、生长和繁殖有很大的影响，一种植物上的食草量会受到其邻近植物的影响。一方面，如果食草动物选择吃邻居，那么邻居更可口的植物可能会吃得更少。另一方面，如果食草动物更容易被食物更充足的地块所吸引，那么邻近同样美味的植物密度更高的植物可能会被吃得更多。任何一种影响都可能被栖息地中食草动物的总体水平所改变。该项目将在两种草食率不同的栖息地-长叶松林和过去没有开垦的长叶松林-中实验测试密度和邻居适口性的影响。结果将增加我们对个体因素的基本了解，这些个体因素是一种植物通过草食对另一种植物产生间接影响的基础。该项目的更广泛影响包括应用于恢复自然栖息地和控制农业中的作物损害。在废弃农田上恢复森林可能会因为草食等被忽视的因素而失败，而这项研究是在美国东南部一个极度濒危的生态系统中进行的。邻近的植物被用来阻止农业系统的草食，结果可能表明如何提高威慑力，从而提高产量。调查结果将提交给土地管理人。该项目还将培训一名博士生和两名本科生进行生态研究。

Herbivory can have large effects on the survival, growth, and reproduction of plants in nature, and the amount of herbivory on a plant can be influenced by its neighboring plants. On the one hand, a plant with more palatable neighbors might be eaten less if herbivores choose to eat its neighbors instead. On the other hand, a plant with a higher density of equally palatable neighbors might be eaten more if herbivores are more attracted to patches where food is more plentiful. Either effect might be modified by the overall level of herbivory in a habitat. This project will experimentally test the effects of density and palatability of neighbors in two types of habitats where rates of herbivory differ, longleaf pine woodlands that have or have not been cultivated in the past. Results will increase our basic understanding of the individual factors that underlie the indirect effects of one plant on another through herbivory. The broader impacts of this project include applications to restoration of natural habitats and to control of crop damage in agriculture. Restoration of forests on abandoned farm fields can fail because of overlooked factors such as herbivory, and this research takes place in a critically endangered ecosystem of the southeastern U.S. Neighboring plants have been used to deter herbivory in agricultural systems, and results may show how to improve deterrence and thus yields. Findings will be presented to land managers. The project will also train a Ph.D. student and two undergraduate students in ecological research.