Characterizing the ecological effects of phenotypic diversity using the stoichiometric phenotype

所有的动物都要吃饭。它们消耗养分来生长和繁殖，并在废物中回收养分。因此，动物在其生态系统中的能量和营养物质的运动中起着重要作用，而它们的营养是理解这一作用的关键。我的研究项目的动机是描述动物生命的多样性如何影响它们在生态系统中的作用。多样性可以通过计算不同的物种来衡量。然而，我们越来越认识到，同一物种内的多样性（种内表型变异）影响着动物与生态系统的相互作用——它们需要和消耗多少营养和能量，以及它们回收多少废物。种内表型多样性在自然界中普遍存在，并受到人类活动的影响。在接下来的五年里，我和我的学生将研究种内表型变异影响动物营养的生态和生理机制。我们对养分循环特别感兴趣，它被定义为动物在其废物中再生营养的能力，因为它是生态系统稳定性和生产力的重要过程。我们将特别关注富含磷的骨骼的种内变异如何影响鱼类获取、吸收和循环利用这一重要元素的能力。我们把这些测量结果统称为“化学计量表型”。我们将研究三刺棘鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus）的种群，这是一种重要的进化模式物种，其骨骼特征变化巨大。我们将比较不同骨骼结构的棘鱼如何在自然界和实验室实验中摄取、消化和循环磷。在人类影响的生态系统中，种内表型变异及其后果对研究尤为重要，因为表型和基因型可能发生迅速而剧烈的变化。人口在增长，超过一半的人口居住在城市。城市的发展对生态系统产生了巨大的负面影响，并导致动物物种之间和内部的巨大变化。城市生态系统种内表型性状变异的原因和后果尚不清楚。我们将在温哥华岛（不列颠哥伦比亚省）西海岸沿着城市化梯度调查棘鱼种群，以测试表型多样性如何响应城市压力。我们将评估城市化如何影响骨骼特征和饮食，以便评估它是否也影响营养。这项研究计划使我们能够在生态学和进化中的关键、基本问题上取得快速进展，并更好地了解人类的影响。通过关注动物营养，我们能够将动物多样性与其生态后果联系起来。该项目为研究生和本科生提供培训机会。

All animals have to eat. They consume nutrients to grow and reproduce, and also recycle nutrients in their waste. Animals therefore play an important role in the movement of energy and nutrients in their ecosystem, and their nutrition is key for understanding this role. My research program is motivated by characterizing how the diversity of animal life affects their role in the ecosystem. Diversity can be measured by counting different species. However, increasingly we recognize that diversity within the same species (intraspecific phenotypic variation) affects how animals interact with their ecosystem - how much nutrients and energy they require and consume, and how much waste they recycle. Intraspecific phenotypic diversity is ubiquitous in nature, and is affected by human activities. Over the next five years my students and I will investigate the ecological and physiological mechanisms by which intraspecific phenotypic variation affects animal nutrition. We are particularly interested in nutrient recycling, defined as the capacity of animals to regenerate nutrients in their waste, because it is an important process for the stability and productivity of ecosystems. We will specifically focus on how intraspecific variation in bone, which is rich in phosphorus, affects the ability of fish to acquire, assimilate, and recycle this important element. Together we call these measurements "the stoichiometric phenotype". We will study populations of the threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), an important evolutionary model species that varies tremendously in its bony characteristics. We will compare how stickleback with different bony structures ingest, digest, and recycle phosphorus in nature and in laboratory experiments. Intraspecific phenotypic variation and its consequences are especially important to study in human-impacted ecosystems, where phenotypes and genotypes can change rapidly and dramatically. The human population is growing, with more than half the population living in cities. The growth of cities has dramatic negative effects on the ecosystem, and causes big changes among and within animal species. The causes and consequences of intraspecific phenotypic trait variation in urban ecosystems are poorly understood. We will survey stickleback populations along an urbanization gradient on the west coast of Vancouver Island (British Columbia), in order to test how phenotypic diversity responds to urban pressure. We will assess how urbanization affects bony traits and diets, in order to assess if it also affects nutrition. This research program allows us to make rapid progress on critical, fundamental questions in ecology and evolution, and to better understand human impacts. By focusing on animal nutrition, we are able to make connections between animal diversity and its ecological consequences. The program provides training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.