Collaborative Research: RAPID: Capturing initial eco-evolutionary dynamics of a novel chemical invader

强烈的人为选择可以导致改变生态动态的性状的快速进化。这种生态进化过程也可能导致生物系统发生不可预测的变化。例如，使用除草剂会在植物中引起一系列反应，如死亡、生长迟缓或幸存者的开花时间改变。暴露于除草剂的植物种群经常进化出抗性。目前尚不清楚这些除草剂引起的变化是否会影响群落的其他关键生态组成部分，如植物与传粉者的相互作用。本研究将探讨在作物相关杂草群落中施用除草剂的潜在级联生态进化效应。研究人员将利用即将广泛应用的新型除草剂麦草畏。这项工作是专门为捕捉麦草畏在农业中使用的最初动态而设计的。本研究将重点研究作物相关杂草群落及其与昆虫传粉媒介的相互作用。最终，该项目对人类介导影响后农业系统的健康和复原力具有广泛的意义。这些野生物种的进化可能对农业的可持续性、粮食生产的经济性和人类健康产生重大影响。这里研究的生态进化力量可能会产生导致重大生态变化的进化反应。然而，对这些现象的理解是不完整的，因为到目前为止，很少有自然系统被研究进化特征和生态影响之间的直接联系。此外，这种系统的初始动力学很少被捕获。本研究利用一种新除草剂即将广泛应用的优势，研究其对作物相关杂草群落（包括重要的自然传粉媒介）生态和进化过程的级联效应。这项工作将测试关于初始生态和进化过程的四个假设。需要研究的生态过程包括表型可塑性在入侵动力学中的作用以及传粉媒介丰度和多样性的变化。进化过程包括植物物种的丧失和遗传多样性的减少。这项工作将利用实地研究和遗传分析相结合的方法来捕捉预计将迅速进行的动态过程中的初始过程。这项研究将为发生在农业生态界面的生态进化过程的关键阶段提供关键的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Strong human-mediated selection can cause rapid evolution in traits that alter ecological dynamics. Such eco-evolutionary processes may also lead to unpredictable changes in biological systems. The application of herbicides, for example, causes a range of responses in plants such as death, stunted growth, or the alteration of flowering times of survivors. Plant populations exposed to herbicide often evolve resistance. It is not known if these herbicide-induced changes can affect other key ecological components of a community such as plant-pollinator interactions. This research will examine the potential for cascading eco-evolutionary effects of herbicide application within crop associated weed communities. The researchers will take advantage of the impending widespread application of the novel herbicide dicamba. The work is specifically designed to capture the initial dynamics of dicamba's use in agriculture. This research will focus on the crop-associated weed community and its interaction with insect pollinators. Ultimately, this project has broad implications for the health and resilience of agricultural systems following human-mediated influences. The evolution of these wild species may have substantial effects on agricultural sustainability, the economics of food production, and human health.The eco-evolutionary forces studied here are likely to create evolutionary responses that lead to significant ecological change. An understanding of these phenomena is incomplete, however, as few natural systems have so far been examined for direct links between evolving traits and ecological impacts. Moreover, the initial dynamics in such systems are rarely captured. The proposed research takes advantage of the upcoming widespread application of a new herbicide to study its cascading effects on ecological and evolutionary processes in crop-associated weed communities, including important natural pollinators. This work will test four hypotheses concerning the initial ecological and evolutionary processes. Ecological processes to be studied include the role of phenotypic plasticity in invasion dynamics and changes in pollinator abundances and diversity. Evolutionary processes include plant species losses and reductions in genetic diversity. The work will use a combination of field studies and genetic analyses to capture the initial processes in a dynamic that is expected to proceed very rapidly. This research will provide key insight into a critical stage of eco-evolutionary processes that occur at the agro-ecological interface.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.