Collaborative Research: Effects of a Regional Plio-Pleistocene Extinction Event on the Escalation of Predator-Prey Interactions

合作研究：区域性上皮里奥-更新世灭绝事件对捕食者与猎物相互作用升级的影响

• 批准号: 0719130
• 负责人: Gregory Dietl
• 金额: $ 7.05万
• 依托单位: Paleontological Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-08-01 至 2010-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0719130&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Effects; Regional; Plio

As humans continue to transform the world's ecosystems through the loss of species, fragmentation of habitats and global redistribution of species, we are increasingly re-creating conditions not unlike those of past extinctions. How will species respond to such changes in their environment? Lineage-specific, habitat-specific, and regionally constrained information on what adaptive solutions work best in particular kinds of environments and selective regimes in the aftermath of crises is critical if we are to manage and anticipate the long-term consequences of human-induced environmental changes. Towards this goal of better understanding the effects of ecological losses on species interactions, PIs plan to test the hypothesis of escalation, which claims that as biological hazards become more severe adaptations to those hazards increase in expression. The study will focus on fighting conchs (snails of the Strombus alatus complex) and their crab predators in the abundant fossil record of the Plio-Pleistocene of Florida before and after a regional mass extinction event at the end of the Pliocene. Given a basic theoretical understanding of how changes in predation pressure should affect adaptation to enemies, and the previous inference that levels of predation peaked in the Pliocene and declined in the Pleistocene following the extinction event, escalation between fighting conchs and crabs is predicted to have slowed or halted after the Pliocene. The material that will be collected and studied for this proposal will also be used to develop hands-on, inquiry-based activities for teaching about evolution. In particular, secondary school students will be introduced to the concepts of fossils as records of biological evolution and environmental change, and shells as records of predator-prey relationships and adaptation, connecting to a number of National Science Education Standards.

随着人类继续通过物种的丧失，栖息地的分散和物种的全球再分配来改变世界的生态系统，我们越来越重新创造条件，与过去灭绝的条件不同。物种将如何应对其环境中的这种变化？关于哪种适应性解决方案在特定种类的环境中最有效的谱系特定，栖息地特异性和区域性限制的信息，如果我们要管理和预期人类诱发的环境的长期后果，在危机之后的选择性方案和选择性制度至关重要更改。为了更好地理解生态损失对物种相互作用的影响，PIS计划测试升级的假设，该假设声称随着生物危害会更加严重地适应这些危害的表达增加。这项研究将集中于战斗（Strombus alatus综合体的蜗牛）及其螃蟹捕食者，在佛罗里达州的Plio-pepleisene的丰富化石记录中，在佛罗里达州的Plio-pelesiens thing thing thing the pliestecene在上新世结束时区域质量灭绝事件发生之前和之后。考虑到对捕食压力的变化的基本理论理解，应影响对敌人的适应性，而先前的推断是灭绝事件发生后，捕食水平在上新世上达到峰值并在更新世上下降，预计战斗螺栓和螃蟹之间的升级是放慢的。或在上新世之后停止。该建议将收集和研究的材料也将用于开发基于询问的动手，以进行有关进化的教学。特别是，将向中学生介绍化石的概念，作为生物进化和环境变化的记录，而贝壳作为捕食者 - 捕食关系和适应的记录，连接到许多国家科学教育标准。