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.

随着人类不断通过物种丧失、栖息地破碎化和全球物种重新分布来改变世界生态系统，我们正在越来越多地重新创造与过去灭绝时类似的条件。物种将如何应对环境的这种变化？如果我们要管理和预测人为环境造成的长期后果，那么针对特定谱系、特定栖息地和区域限制的信息，说明哪些适应性解决方案在危机后的特定环境和选择性制度中最有效，就至关重要变化。为了更好地了解生态损失对物种相互作用的影响，PI 计划检验升级假设，该假设声称，随着生物危害变得更加严重，对这些危害的适应也会增加。该研究将重点关注佛罗里达州上新世末期区域性大规模灭绝事件前后丰富的化石记录中的海螺（Strombus alatus 复合体的蜗牛）及其螃蟹捕食者。鉴于对捕食压力的变化如何影响对天敌的适应的基本理论了解，以及先前的推论，即捕食水平在上新世达到顶峰，并在灭绝事件后的更新世下降，预计海螺和螃蟹之间的战斗升级将会放缓或在上新世之后停止。为此提案收集和研究的材料还将用于开发基于探究的实践活动，以教授进化论。特别是，将向中学生介绍化石作为生物进化和环境变化记录的概念，以及贝壳作为捕食者与猎物关系和适应记录的记录，这些概念与多项国家科学教育标准相关。