Collaborative Research: LTREB Renewal: Large-scale removal of introduced ants as a test of community reassembly

生态系统通常受到自然和人类力量的破坏。物种引进是一种代价高昂且无处不在的环境变化形式，会造成影响，包括生态系统服务退化、农业破坏和物种灭绝。然而，令人惊讶的是，关于引入物种从生态系统中移走后生态系统恢复能力的信息很少。这个项目研究了在阿根廷蚂蚁从加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯岛的景观范围内迁出后，本地蚂蚁群落的重新组装。阿根廷蚂蚁是一种主要的城市和农业害虫，也是一种破坏生态的入侵者。这种物种取代了其他蚂蚁物种，它的消失使研究本地蚂蚁如何恢复遗传多样性、物种多样性、群落结构和生态功能成为可能。从这个相对简单的模型生态系统中获得的见解将为其他生态系统如何从入侵物种的影响中恢复提供一般性见解，或许还有其他类型的生态破坏。需要多方面的方法，例如在这项长期研究中采用的方法，以澄清生态系统从不同的环境变化驱动因素中恢复的速度和程度。与这项工作相关的更广泛影响包括对加州大学圣地亚哥分校博士生的研究支持，对加州大学伯克利分校博士后研究员的研究支持，以及针对当地四年制拉美裔服务机构(加州州立大学海峡群岛和加州大学圣巴巴拉分校)学生的本科生研究体验(REU)计划。我们还参与了K12外展合作，重点关注昆虫的重要性。引进物种的试验性移除可以为研究群落重组提供无与伦比的机会。例如，清除入侵者的实验可以阐明恢复是如何受到作用于给定系统的过程的影响，或者反映出作用于更大空间尺度的过程。这项研究的核心目标是量化在景观尺度上将非本地阿根廷蚂蚁从加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯岛移走后，恢复本地蚂蚁组合的结构(遗传多样性、物种多样性)和功能(营养位置、生态功能)组成部分。尽管这类研究有明显的价值，但令人惊讶的是，很少有人研究单一物种种群水平以上的复苏。特别是，只有少数关于入侵的研究将入侵前的长期数据与时间尺度上的入侵清除实验结合在一起，足够长的时间来捕捉本地物种组合的继承。从能量流或营养位置等功能成分的角度衡量恢复情况的入侵清除实验更少。这项研究将对入侵物种清除后原生生物群落的恢复进行前所未有的测试，并将产生关于控制重要陆地动物群落的丰富性、组成和功能特性的因素的新信息。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。

Ecosystems are commonly disrupted by both natural and human forces. Species introductions are a costly and pervasive form of environmental change that cause impacts including degraded ecosystem services, agricultural damage, and species extinctions. Surprisingly little information exists, however, regarding the capacity of ecosystems to recover after introduced species are removed from ecosystems. This project examines the reassembly of native ant assemblages following the landscape-scale removal of the Argentine ant from Santa Cruz Island, California. A prominent urban and agricultural pest, the Argentine ant is also an ecologically disruptive invader. This species displaces other ant species, and its removal makes it possible to examine how native ants recover genetic diversity, species diversity, community structure, and ecological function. The insights gained from this relatively simple model ecosystem will provide general insights into how other ecosystems might recover from the impacts of invasive species, and perhaps other types of ecological disruptions. Multifaceted approaches, such as those employed in this long-term study, are needed to clarify the rate and extent to which ecosystems recover from different drivers of environmental change. Broader impacts related to this work include research support for PhD students from UC San Diego, research support for a postdoctoral researcher from UC Berkeley, and a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program for students from local, four-year Hispanic Serving Institutions (California State University Channel Islands and University of California, Santa Barbara). We are also engaging in K12 outreach collaborations that focus on the importance of insects. The experimental removal of introduced species can provide unparalleled opportunities to examine community reassembly. Invader-removal experiments, for example, can clarify how recovery is influenced by processes acting within a given system or, alternatively, reflects processes acting at larger spatial scales. The core objectives of this research are to quantify the structural (genetic diversity, species diversity) and functional (trophic position, ecological function) components of the recovery of native ant assemblages following landscape-scale removal of the non-native Argentine ant from Santa Cruz Island, California. Despite the obvious value of such studies, surprisingly few examine recovery above the level of single-species populations. In particular, only a handful of studies on invasions couple long-term, pre-invasion data with invader-removal experiments over temporal scales long enough to capture the succesion of native species assemblages. Even fewer invader-removal experiments measure recovery in terms of functional components, such as energy flow or trophic position. This research will provide an unprecedented test of the recovery of native assemblages after invader removal and will yield novel information about the factors that control the richness, composition and functional properties of an important terrestrial animal assemblage.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.