Species roles and the impacts of species loss in the formation and maintenance of an iconic mixed-species animal group

所有物种都参与与其他物种的相互作用，这些相互作用塑造了生物多样性的模式。由于人类活动，这些相互作用在地球仪各地受到破坏，这种破坏可能对社区、生态系统和人类福祉产生连锁反应。在相互作用的物种群体中，正如本研究所研究的那样，物种在群落中的作用可能会有所不同：一些物种的损失可能会对群落产生重大影响，而其他物种的损失可能影响甚微。确定保护的目标物种需要了解物种所扮演的角色，行为在维持物种相互作用中的重要性，以及特定物种的丧失如何改变群落。然而，这些问题很少受到关注。此外，深入了解如何相互作用可能会随着环境的变化而变化，可以通过研究不同类型物种的丧失是否、如何以及为什么会改变或破坏物种间的相互作用来获得。该项目将包括在巴拿马培训任职人数不足的早期职业科学家和一个本科实地课程，并辅之以全团队的辅导培训，以提高公平性和包容性。该团队还将开发开放式教育研究模块，供多所大学的本科生使用。为了研究物种之间的相互作用以及行为与社区生态学之间的联系，研究人员将在热带森林中使用重复性良好的网络分析和实验方法，研究一种混合物种动物群体--行军蚁追随鸟类。该团队将测试最近提出的理解混合物种动物群体组织的理论框架，并将通过添加新的行为角色，角色的上下文依赖性以及评估行为，净利益和群体结构之间的联系来大大扩展这个框架。特别是，本研究将评估这些群体中物种的行为角色，角色是否因环境而异，以及具有不同角色的物种的暂时丧失是否会改变（1）形成阶段（当群体首次形成时）的群体结构，以及（2）行为，相互作用的净收益和维持阶段（形成后）的结构。这将通过进行两个实验来完成-在形成阶段期间的声学物质去除实验和在维护阶段期间的物理物质去除实验。在每个实验中，具有不同行为角色的物种将被移除。将进行行为观察，以评估物种损失对招募，觅食，竞争和群体结构的影响。该项目将通过研究改变群体结构和社区抵抗力的潜在行为机制，并通过对网络如何应对物种损失进行新颖的实验性实地测试，在动物行为和社区生态学领域建立独特的桥梁。该奖项反映了NSF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。

All species are involved in interactions with other species, and these interactions shape patterns of biodiversity. These interactions are being disrupted around the globe due to human activities, and such disruptions can have cascading effects on communities, ecosystems, and human well-being. In groups of interacting species, as examined in this study, species may vary in their roles in the community: the loss of some species can have large impacts on the community, while the loss of others may have little to no effect. Determining which species to target for conservation requires understanding the roles that species play, the importance of behavior in maintaining species interactions, and how loss of particular species alters the community. Yet, these questions have received little attention. Further, insight into how interactions may vary in response to changing environments can be gained from examining if, how, and why the loss of different types of species alters or disrupts species interactions. This project will include training of underrepresented early career scientists and an undergraduate field-based course in Panama, supported by team-wide training in mentoring to increase equity and inclusivity. The team will also develop open educational research modules for use at the undergraduate level across multiple universities.To examine species interactions and the links between behavior and community ecology, researchers will study one type of mixed-species animal group, army-ant-following birds, using a well-replicated network analytic and experimental approach in tropical forests. The team will test a recently proposed theoretical framework for understanding mixed-species animal group organization, and will greatly expand upon this framework by adding new behavioral roles, context-dependency in roles, and evaluating linkages between behaviors, net benefits, and group structure. In particular, this study will evaluate the behavioral roles of species within these groups, whether roles vary across contexts, and whether temporary loss of a species with differing roles alters (1) the structure of the group during the formation stage (when the group is first forming), and (2) the behaviors, net benefits of interacting, and structure during the maintenance stage (after they have formed). This will be done by conducting two experiments - an acoustic species removal experiment during the formation stage and a physical species removal experiment during the maintenance stage. In each experiment, species with differing behavioral roles will be removed. Behavioral observations will be conducted to assess the impacts of species loss on recruitment, foraging, competition, and group structure. The project will uniquely bridge the fields of animal behavior and community ecology by examining the underlying behavioral mechanisms altering group structure and community resistance, and do so by conducting novel, experimental field tests of how networks respond to species loss.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.