DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Effects of suburbanization on multispecies plant-animal interactions

论文研究：郊区化对多物种动植物相互作用的影响

• 批准号: 1209321
• 负责人: Rebecca Irwin
• 金额: $ 1.36万
• 依托单位: Dartmouth College
• 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: 2012-04-15 至 2013-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1209321&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Effects; suburbanization; multispecies

Urban areas within the United States have rapidly expanded over the past 50 years, increasing the extent of suburban development. Such change in land use has been proposed as a dominant factor in the decline of native bee pollinators, raising concern over the integrity of pollination services in suburban areas. However, many factors likely determine how suburbanization affects bees and the plants that depend on them for pollination. The goal of this study is to determine how suburbanization changes interactions between plants, their bee pollinators, and other insects that consume flowers. Previous research has documented that suburban forests actually harbor more bees than natural forests, but that plants growing in suburban forests are also more likely to have flowers damaged by floral herbivores, which could make plants less attractive to bee pollinators. This research will determine 1) how damage to flowers affects pollination of native plants, and 2) how this relationship varies between suburban and natural forests. This research is novel because few studies have addressed how suburbanization affects pollination indirectly through changes in interactions between beneficial bees and detrimental flower feeding insects. Pollination is of great ecological and economic importance ? pollinators are essential for the reproduction of most flowering plants, and the value of pollination for global food production is estimated to exceed $200 billion annually. In addition, growing concern over declines in native pollinators and the sustainability of their pollination services underscores the need for research on factors driving changes in plant-pollinator interactions. The results of this study will provide ecological insight into how human development affects pollination and could produce recommendations for the conservation of pollination services in developing and developed areas. In addition, this research fosters public interest in and awareness of the importance of pollination through interactions with public and private land owners, cooperation with suburban home owners associations, and communication with individual homeowners. As public interest and involvement are integral to the dissemination of scientific research, an informational pamphlet, including the findings from this and previous research, will be developed and distributed to all cooperating landowners, homeowners, and public agencies.

过去 50 年来，美国的城市地区迅速扩张，郊区开发的范围不断扩大。土地利用的这种变化被认为是本地蜜蜂授粉媒介减少的一个主导因素，引起了人们对郊区授粉服务完整性的担忧。然而，许多因素可能决定郊区化如何影响蜜蜂和依赖它们授粉的植物。这项研究的目的是确定郊区化如何改变植物、蜜蜂传粉者和其他消耗花朵的昆虫之间的相互作用。此前的研究表明，郊区森林实际上比天然森林拥有更多的蜜蜂，但在郊区森林中生长的植物的花朵也更有可能被花卉食草动物破坏，这可能会降低植物对蜜蜂传粉媒介的吸引力。这项研究将确定 1) 花卉受损如何影响本地植物的授粉，以及 2) 这种关系在郊区和天然森林之间有何变化。这项研究很新颖，因为很少有研究探讨郊区化如何通过有益蜜蜂和有害食花昆虫之间相互作用的变化来间接影响授粉。授粉具有重大的生态和经济重要性 ? 授粉媒介对于大多数开花植物的繁殖至关重要，授粉对全球粮食生产的价值估计每年超过 2000 亿美元。此外，人们对本地授粉媒介的减少及其授粉服务的可持续性的日益关注，凸显了对驱动植物与授粉媒介相互作用变化的因素进行研究的必要性。这项研究的结果将为人类发展如何影响授粉提供生态见解，并为保护发展中国家和发达地区的授粉服务提供建议。此外，这项研究通过与公共和私人土地所有者的互动、与郊区业主协会的合作以及与个人业主的沟通，培养了公众对授粉重要性的兴趣和认识。由于公众兴趣和参与是科学研究传播不可或缺的一部分，因此将制作一本信息小册子，其中包括本次研究和以前的研究结果，并将其分发给所有合作的土地所有者、房主和公共机构。