EAGER: Community and physiological ecology: Linking consumer homeostatic physiology and behavior to plant community dynamics

生态学的一个重要焦点是了解环境和生物之间的相互作用如何形成生态系统。例如，一些研究探索了温度和降雨的变化如何影响一个地区的动植物类型。其他研究探索了生物体如何通过构建结构或改变环境中的化学物质或营养物质处理速率来塑造环境。这项研究将直接联系环境变化如何通过对动物生理的影响来影响更广泛的生态模式。更具体地说，本研究探讨了环境变化如何直接影响小型草原啮齿动物的内部生理，以及这种生理应激如何影响它们的觅食行为，进而影响它们栖息地中发现的植物类型。将采用新技术来记录和控制野外啮齿动物所经历的内部压力水平，并跟踪这种压力如何影响它们的运动、觅食和摄食模式。这项研究对于发展对生物生理和行为如何扩大规模以塑造生态系统特性的一般理解是重要的。这项研究还将通过允许土地管理者制定可能减少环境变化对动物生理的负面影响的策略，为保护工作提供信息。该项目将支持本科生和研究生的研究培训，并将为K-12学生和教师提供机会。将动物稳态功能整合到生态学领域对于描述和预测群落对变化的环境条件的反应是必不可少的。例如，动物体内平衡功能的变化可能通过影响捕食者-猎物相互作用、竞争水平和营养循环速率的动物生理和行为的变化，在构建生态系统的形式和功能方面发挥重要作用。利用无线电遥测和生理操作技术的最新进展，本研究将通过实验改变肉质袋鼠大鼠的应激激素和水生理，以跟踪其觅食行为和栖息地利用的相关变化。通过将稳定同位素应用于这些啮齿动物通常食用的开花植物，本研究将闭合消费者对环境压力源的生理反应与其改变种子传播和萌发模式的潜力之间的循环。整合这些不同的方法将展示一个新的社区（生理）生态学框架，可能会改变长期持有的研究范式。这一生态框架将为研究人员探索和测试不同的稳态过程（如体温调节、生态免疫学和营养化学计量学）如何在各种生态系统中调节群落功能和结构提供新的机会。

An important focus of ecology is understanding how the interplay between the environment and organisms shape ecosystems. For example, some studies have explored how changes in temperature and rainfall influence the types of animals and plants found within an area. Other studies have explored how organisms may shape their environment by building structures, or changing the chemistry or rate of nutrient processing within an environment. This study will directly link how environmental changes may influence broader ecological patterns through their effects on the physiology of animals. More specifically, this study examines how changes in the environment directly influence the internal physiology of small grassland rodents and how this physiological stress influences their foraging behavior which in turn influences the types of plants found in their habitats. New technologies will be employed to record and manipulate the internal stress levels experienced by rodents in the field and to track how this stress influences their movement, foraging and feeding patterns. This research is important in developing a general understanding of how organism physiology and behavior scale up to shape ecosystem properties. This study will also inform conservation efforts by allowing land managers to develop strategies that may reduce the negative effects of environmental change on the physiology of animals. This project will support the research training of undergraduate and graduate students and will provide opportunities for K-12 students and teachers.The integration of animal homeostatic function into the field of ecology is essential for characterizing and forecasting the responses of communities to changing environmental conditions. Changes in the homeostatic function of animals may, for example, play an important role in structuring the form and function of ecosystems through shifts in animal physiology and behavior that influence predator-prey interactions, levels of competition and rates of nutrient cycling. Capitalizing on recent advances in radio-telemetry and physiological manipulation techniques, this study will experimentally alter the stress hormone and water physiology of granivorous kangaroo rats to track associated shifts in their foraging behavior and habitat use. By applying stable isotopes to flowering plants commonly consumed by these rodents, this study will close the loop between the physiological response of consumers to environmental stressors and its potential to alter seed dispersal and germination patterns. Integration of these disparate approaches will demonstrate a new community (physiological) ecology framework that may shift long-held research paradigms. This ecological framework will provide new opportunities for researchers to explore and test how diverse homeostatic processes (e.g. thermoregulation, ecoimmunology, and nutrient stoichiometry) mediate community function and structure across a variety of ecosystems.