Ecology and Evolution of Young Leaf Defenses in Tropical Rainforest Legumes

热带雨林豆类幼叶防御的生态学和进化

• 批准号: 0234936
• 负责人: Phyllis Coley
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-04-01 至 2007-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0234936&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ecology; Evolution; Young; Leaf; Defenses

Plants and herbivores comprise the majority of the earth's biodiversity and their evolutionary interactions have resulted in an arms race in which plant defenses are met by counter adaptations on the part of herbivores. In tropical forests, the vast majority of herbivory occurs by insects feeding on young rather than mature leaves and there is enormous variation in damage among species, yet we know little of the underlying causes of this variation. Using an approach that explicitly considers the evolutionary history of the interaction, this project will examine the chemical defenses of young leaves of tropical legume trees, and correlate this with other plant defenses, with leaf damage by insect herbivores, and with herbivore life history traits. Methods include analyses of plant chemistry, feeding trials with herbivores to assess toxicity, and field measurement of herbivory, timing of leaf expansion, and diet breadth of herbivores. This project will improve our general understanding of the ecological and evolutionary interactions between plants and herbivores, and will provide data on poorly known tropical forests. In addition, the plants under study have commercial value (fruit), and are used for reforestation and for enriching soil nutrients.

植物和食草动物构成了地球生物多样性的大部分，它们的进化相互作用导致了一场军备竞赛，在这场军备竞赛中，植物的防御遭到了食草动物的反适应。 在热带森林中，绝大多数草食性是由昆虫以​​幼嫩的叶子而不是成熟的叶子为食而发生的，并且物种之间的损害存在巨大差异，但我们对这种差异的根本原因知之甚少。 该项目将采用明确考虑相互作用进化历史的方法，检查热带豆科植物幼叶的化学防御，并将其与其他植物防御、食草动物对叶子的损害以及食草动物生活史特征相关联。 方法包括植物化学分析、食草动物喂养试验以评估毒性、食草动物的现场测量、叶子扩张的时间和食草动物的饮食宽度。 该项目将提高我们对植物和食草动物之间生态和进化相互作用的总体了解，并将提供有关鲜为人知的热带森林的数据。 此外，所研究的植物具有商业价值（果实），可用于重新造林和丰富土壤养分。