EAGER: Ancestral reconstruction of plasticity along environmental gradients: tracing the pathways to ecological specialization

生态专业化是产生生物多样性的发动机。但是，为什么物种会成为特定资源或一组条件的专家，而不是扩大它们的生态位，使其变得更普遍，结合新旧资源？物种在其生态位中的专门化程度如何预测其地理范围和气候耐受性？容忍大范围环境和资源条件的能力（即成为一个通才）是物种在进化过程中共享的一种特征吗？该项目使用尖端的分析技术，将多种植物物种的恢复能力映射到它们的进化关系模式上。这将使研究人员能够探索物种对环境变化的耐受性如何在相关物种之间进化，对一系列实验环境的耐受性是否预测物种在其当前生态位中的专业化程度，以及当前的耐受性是否可以预测物种对未来气候变化的反应。该项目还通过培训代表性不足的学生群体来促进教育和多样性。这个项目结合了当代（生态实验/观察）和历史（系统发育）的方法来解开驱动生态专业化的内在和外在力量。描述反应规范的多变量参数的祖先性状重建将在多个植物物种上完成。除了叶片生理和其他植物性状外，还将测量在水分有效性和叶片食草性梯度的环境处理中生长的18种链蕨属植物的适应性。一旦完成，这个项目将帮助我们了解可塑性和竞争反应的演变与专业化的关系。此外，新的方法方法应该有助于在生命之树的各种系统中研究这些问题。来自代表性不足群体的研究生将直接为这项研究做出贡献。

Ecological specialization is the engine generating biological diversity. But why do species become specialists on a particular resource or set of conditions rather than expand their niches to become more generalized, incorporating both old and new resources? How does the degree to which species are specialized in their ecological niche predict their geographic range and climatic tolerances? Is the ability to tolerate a large range of environmental and resource conditions (i.e., to be a generalist) a trait that is shared over evolutionary time by species? This project uses cutting edge analytical techniques to map the resilience of multiple plant species onto the pattern of their evolutionary relationships. This will allow researchers to explore how species tolerance to environmental change evolves across related species, whether tolerance to a range of experimental environments predicts the degree to which species are specialized in their current ecological niches, and whether current tolerance can predict species' responses to future changes in the climate. This project also advances education and diversity by training underrepresented groups of students. This project combines contemporary (ecological experiments/observations) with historical (phylogenetic) approaches to disentangle intrinsic and extrinsic forces driving ecological specialization. Ancestral trait reconstruction of multivariate parameters describing norms of reactions will be completed on multiple plant species. Fitness, in addition to leaf physiology and other plant traits, will be measured in 18 Streptanthoid species grown in environmental treatments that represent gradients in water availability and leaf herbivory. Once completed this project will help us understand how the evolution of plasticity and competitive response relates to specialization. In addition, new methodological approaches should contribute to the study of these questions in a variety of systems across the tree of life. Graduate students from underrepresented groups will contribute directly to this research.