International Research Experience on Pollinators in a Changing World

传粉者对植物繁殖和维持健康、自然和管理的生态系统至关重要。要解决全球传粉昆虫数量持续下降的问题，需要开展跨国合作的研究，这些研究涉及跨学科的科学家群体。IRES项目将邀请来自STEM代表性不足群体的五名美国本科生在哥伦比亚或秘鲁进行为期八周的研究，研究非生物应激源如何影响植物-传粉者的相互作用。学生将利用生态学、生理学、气候科学和生态水文学的跨学科方法来开发项目，以促进获得关于不断变化的世界中传粉者的及时研究主题的新的和有用的信息。该计划特别致力于与来自哥伦比亚、秘鲁和美国大学的导师和学生建立培训伙伴关系，而实地工作将在高度多样化的热带国家进行，在这些国家，植物与传粉者的相互作用仍未得到充分研究。学生将解决传粉者对空气污染物的反应、温度梯度、作物干旱和洪水等生物学研究问题，同时使用尖端技术方法解决研究问题。生物学和工程学学生的小组将根据他们感兴趣的主题进行分组。学生将参加专业发展活动，为从事融合研究的职业生涯做好准备。该项目的研究成果将对保护生物多样性和拉丁美洲人民的生计产生直接影响，因为拉丁美洲的许多作物依赖于昆虫传粉者，而对昆虫传粉者的研究很少。最后，IRES的研究经验将大大有助于培养下一代跨学科科学家，他们将领导解决全球问题的方案，例如目前昆虫传粉者数量下降所经历的问题。这项为期十周的本科生研究课程为学生提供了一个独特的机会，调查不同的非生物因素及其相互作用如何影响热带地区的植物-传粉者相互作用。该项目的学生将在来自美国、哥伦比亚和秘鲁大学的教师顾问的指导下，进行跨学科的科学探索，生成和测试假设，分析数据，并将研究结果(包括与科学和政策相关的影响)传达给其他科学家和公众。学生将使用新兴技术和先进的数据分析和可视化方法，调查哥伦比亚和秘鲁山区植物和传粉者的生态反应，这些地区正在经历与大气变暖有关的加速环境变化。每个项目将由一对生物和工程专业的学生领导，他们将与导师一起研究多学科的方法，以开发研究活动，例如，使用微型应答器跟踪蜜蜂的觅食，并将其与臭氧浓度对蜜蜂生理和行为的影响联系起来。项目的多学科性质将推动这一主题的知识和方法的前沿。具体地说，学生将研究觅食传粉者的原位运动模式，干旱和洪水胁迫对植物-传粉者相互作用的影响，以及传粉者耐热性的纬度变化。学生将通过口头和书面报告交流他们的成果，培养他们的沟通技能，并向科学和非科学受众传播研究成果。学生还可以用英语和西班牙语在电视广播和社交媒体上通过视频或播客交流研究成果。该项目将从本科生研究机会有限的大学和学院招收美国学生，让他们接触到生态学、昆虫学、植物科学、电气和环境工程、生态水文学和气候科学等领域的职业机会。我们将重点招聘女性和其他在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域代表性不足的群体。该项目的学生将在拉丁美洲工作，当地学生具有不同的文化背景和从事研究的机会水平。该计划值得注意的内容包括(1)结合生命、物理科学和工程学专业知识的多学科研究方法，(2)开发和使用视听资料以扩大研究成果交流的培训，以及(3)在STEM中代表不足的群体的学生和导师的合作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Pollinators are critical for plant reproduction and the maintenance of healthy natural and managed ecosystems. Solutions to the ongoing pollinator population decline around the globe requires the development of research that involves cross-countries collaborations among interdisciplinary groups of scientists. This IRES project will engage five U.S. undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in STEM to spend eight weeks in Colombia or Peru conducting research on how abiotic stressors impact plant-pollinator interactions. Students will utilize interdisciplinary approaches in ecology, physiology, climate science, and ecohydrology to develop projects that will facilitate the acquisition of new and useful information about timely research topics on pollinators in a changing world. This program specifically pursues a training partnership involving mentors and students from Colombia, Peru, and US universities, while field work will take place in hyperdiverse tropical countries where plant-pollinator interactions remain understudied. Students will address biological research questions about pollinator responses to air pollutants, temperature gradients, crop drought, and flooding while using cutting-edge technological approaches to address the research questions. Teams of biology and engineering students will be grouped by their topics of interest. Students will participate in professional development activities to prepare them for careers involving convergent research. Research outputs of this program will have direct implications for the conservation of biological diversity and the livelihoods of people in Latin American where many crops rely on insect pollinators that are poorly studied. Last, this IRES research experience will significantly contribute to the training of the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists who will lead solutions to global problems such as those currently experienced by declining populations of insect pollinators.This ten-week undergraduate research program offers students a unique opportunity to investigate how different abiotic factors and their interactions impact plant-pollinator interactions in tropical areas. Students in the program, with guidance from faculty advisers from U.S., Colombian, and Peruvian universities, will undertake an interdisciplinary scientific exploration, generating and testing hypotheses, analyzing data, and communicating research findings, including scientific and policy-relevant implications, to other scientists and the public. Students will use emerging technologies and advanced data analysis and visualization methods to investigate the ecological responses of plants and pollinators in mountainous regions of Colombia and Peru, areas that are undergoing accelerated environmental changes related to atmospheric warming. Each project will be led by a pair of biology and engineering students who will work together with mentors on multidisciplinary approaches to develop research activities, for example, tracking bee foraging using mini-transponders and linking it to impacts of ozone concentration on bee physiology and behavior. The multidisciplinary nature of projects will push the frontiers of knowledge and methodological approaches to this topic. Specifically, students will investigate the in situ movement patterns of foraging pollinators, effects of drought and flood stress on plant-pollinator interactions, and the latitudinal variation of pollinator thermal tolerance. Students will communicate their results via oral and written reports, building their communication skills and disseminating research findings to scientific and non-scientific audiences. Students can also communicate research results in videos or podcasts for television broadcast and social media in both English and Spanish.This program will recruit US students from universities and colleges where research opportunities for undergraduates are limited, exposing them to career opportunities in ecology, entomology, plant science, electrical and environmental engineering, ecohydrology, and climate science. We will emphasize recruitment of females and other groups that are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Students in this program will be working in Latin American, where local students have different cultural backgrounds and levels of opportunities to engage in research. Noteworthy elements of this program include (1) multidisciplinary research approaches combining expertise in life and physical sciences and engineering, (2) training in the development and use of audiovisuals to broaden communication of research results, and (3) the partnering of students and mentors from underrepresented groups in STEM.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.