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为力量的破坏。物种引进是一种代价高昂且普遍存在的环境变化形式，其造成的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，关于引进物种从生态系统中移除后生态系统恢复能力的信息很少。这个项目研究了阿根廷蚂蚁从加州的圣克鲁斯岛被大规模迁移后，当地蚂蚁聚集体的重新组装。阿根廷蚂蚁是一种突出的城市和农业害虫，也是一种生态破坏性入侵者。这个物种取代了其他蚂蚁物种，它的移除使得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。从这个相对简单的生态系统模型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的见解，也许还有其他类型的生态破坏。需要采取多方面的方法，如本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的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，以及为当地四年制西班牙裔服务机构（加州州立大学海峡群岛分校和加州大学，圣巴巴拉）的学生提供的本科生研究经验（REU）计划。我们还参与了K12外展合作，重点关注昆虫的重要性。对引进物种的实验性迁移可以为研究群落重组提供前所未有的机会。例如，入侵者清除实验可以阐明恢复如何受到给定系统内作用过程的影响，或者反映在更大空间尺度上作用的过程。本研究的核心目标是量化从圣克鲁斯岛以景观规模清除非本土阿根廷蚂蚁后，本土蚂蚁群落恢复的结构（遗传多样性、物种多样性）和功能（营养地位、生态功能）组成部分。，加州。尽管这些研究的价值显而易见，但令人惊讶的是，很少有人研究单物种种群以上的恢复情况。特别是，只有少数的研究对入侵夫妇的长期，入侵前的数据与入侵者清除实验的时间尺度足够长，以捕捉本地物种组合的灭绝。甚至更少的入侵者清除实验测量功能组件方面的恢复，如能量流或营养位置。这项研究将提供一个前所未有的测试后，入侵者删除恢复本地组合，并将产生新的信息的因素，控制丰富性，组成和功能特性的一个重要的陆生动物association.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

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.