Dimensions: Collaborative Research: Time after Time: Adaptive Seasonal Timing Drives the Sequential Origin of Community Biodiversity

季节性生命周期的时间安排是许多生物过程的关键问题，包括生物多样性的产生和维持以及农业生产和粮食安全。动植物必须使它们的生活与季节同步，以避免冰冻或过热，并利用季节性资源。这笔赠款的目的是了解季节性的历史和当代变化如何促进昆虫群落的生物多样性。在短期内，这种转变导致了新的作物害虫和相关寄生虫群落的快速进化。这项拟议的研究测试了1)同样的过程是否解释了更古老的群落多样性，2)气候变化是否会破坏或促进未来的多样性。从新物种起源的基础研究到农业病虫害的应用防治，这些结果可能会为许多科学领域提供参考。该项目包括与高中教师和学生一起举办讲习班，以建立支持“边做边学”和达到国家标准的课程，并为研究生和博士后提供培训。该项目包括对双翅目害虫的基因组分析，包括苹果蝇Rhagoltis pomonella和蓝莓蝇Rhagoltis mendax以及攻击这些苍蝇的寄生蜂群落。基因组工作将与1)从激素和分子角度对苍蝇和黄蜂越冬的功能研究相结合，以及2)对苍蝇及其寄生虫对气候变化导致的预计季节变化的反应的计算机模拟。

The timing of seasonal life cycles is a critical question underlying many biological processes, including the generation and maintenance of biodiversity and agriculture production and food security. Animals and plants must synchronize their lives with the seasons to avoid freezing or overheating and to exploit seasonal resources. The goal of this grant is to understand how historic and contemporary shifts in seasonality can facilitate biological diversification in insect communities. In the short term, such shifts have caused rapid evolution of new crop pests and associated parasite communities. The proposed research tests 1) whether the same processes explain more ancient diversification of communities, and 2) whether changing climates will disrupt or promote diversification in the future. The results may inform many scientific fields, from basic research on the genesis of new species to applied control of agricultural pests. This project includes workshops with high school teachers and students to build curricula supporting "learning by doing" and meeting national standards, as well as providing training for graduate students and postdocs. This project includes genomic analysis of dipteran pest insects, including the apple fly Rhagoletis pomonella and blueberry maggot fly Rhagoletis mendax plus the community of parasitoid wasps that attack these flies. Genomic work will integrate with 1) functional studies of the overwintering hibernation of both the flies and the wasps from hormonal and molecular perspectives, and 2) computational simulations of the responses of the flies and their parasites to projected seasonal shifts resulting from climate change.