DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The effect of plant phylogenetic and chemical diversity on herbivore community structure and plant host herbivore damage

论文研究：植物系统发育和化学多样性对草食动物群落结构和植物宿主草食动物损害的影响

• 批准号: 1210643
• 负责人: Robert Marquis
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: University of Missouri-Saint Louis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-05-01 至 2014-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1210643&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; effect; plant; phylogenetic

One of the great challenges for ecologists is to find general rules that apply to all or most ecosystems throughout the world. One such rule that seems to be universally true is that simplification of natural plant diversity to single species plantings, such as occurs in agriculture and forest plantations, leads to high vulnerability of the plantings to pest insect outbreaks. Insects can better find their food plants, and there is more food available in single species plantings than in more diverse vegetation. The goal of this study is to more clearly understand the factors that contribute to vulnerability of simplified ecosystems. Three components are likely to be important: the number of plant species, the evolutionary relatedness of the species, and finally, differences in plant traits that influence attack by insects that are unique to each plant species. The goal of this study is to test the effect of these intrinsic plant differences on patterns of damage caused by insects by creating field experimental plant communities with different evolutionary and chemical intrinsic differences. The study will take place in a tropical wet forest site in Costa Rica using plant species related to the source of the spice black pepper. This study will not only render valuable insight into how biodiversity can affect natural ecosystems, but also enrich our knowledge of plant-herbivore systems so that we can develop novel ways to manage conventional and organic agricultural practices. In addition, because related plant species to those being studied are known to produce chemicals with insecticidal properties that have been used successfully against agricultural pests, the study may discover new compounds of similar value for the control of such insects. This project will also provide an opportunity to collaborate and train undergraduate students from the University of Costa Rica and the Organization for Tropical Studies. Furthermore, the laboratory component of this project that will be carried out at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will allow two undergraduate students from the university to participate on all aspects of the chemical analysis. This will allow the students to obtain "hands on" research experience.

生态学家面临的巨大挑战之一是找到适用于全世界所有或大多数生态系统的一般规则。似乎普遍真实的这样的规则是，简化自然植物对单一物种种植的多样性，例如在农业和森林种植园中，导致种植林的脆弱性高于虫害昆虫暴发。昆虫可以更好地找到其食用植物，而单一物种种植中的食物比在多样化的植被中更多。这项研究的目的是更清楚地了解导致简化生态系统脆弱性的因素。三个组成部分可能很重要：植物物种的数量，物种的进化相关性，最后是影响每种植物物种独有的昆虫攻击的植物特征的差异。这项研究的目的是测试这些内在植物差异对昆虫造成的损害模式的影响，这是通过创建具有不同进化和化学内在差异的现场实验植物群落。这项研究将在哥斯达黎加的热带湿林地点进行，使用与香料黑胡椒的来源有关的植物物种。这项研究不仅将对生物多样性如何影响自然生态系统进行宝贵的了解，而且还丰富了我们对植物植物学系统的了解，以便我们可以开发新的方法来管理传统和有机农业实践。此外，由于已知与所研究的植物物种相关的植物物种会产生具有杀虫特性的化学物质，这些化学物质已成功用于农业害虫，因此该研究可能会发现以控制此类昆虫的相似价值的新化合物。该项目还将为哥斯达黎加大学和热带研究组织的合作和培训本科生的合作和培训提供机会。此外，该项目的实验室组成部分将在密苏里大学进行。路易斯（Louis）将允许大学的两名本科生参与化学分析的各个方面。这将使学生获得“动手”研究经验。