COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Tritrophic interactions and the temporal stability of host-use by an oligophagous herbivore

合作研究：寡食草食动物的三营养相互作用和宿主使用的时间稳定性

• 批准号: 1257904
• 负责人: Martha Weiss
• 金额: $ 24.94万
• 依托单位: Georgetown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-03-01 至 2019-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1257904&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Tritrophic; interactions; temporal

Many animals must balance the need to find food against the risks of being eaten themselves, by predators, when feeding. As a result, the best food source, or host plant, for an herbivore may fluctuate, because both plant nutritional quality and the intensity of predation change in time and space. The goal of this project is to assess the preference and performance of a common butterfly, the Silver-spotted Skipper, on an array of plant species that are currently used by its caterpillars as food plants. The researchers will construct an experimental garden of these common plants and measure differences in survival, growth, and reproduction of juvenile and adult skippers among plants over time. These data will be used to construct an ecological model predicting food plant effects on local populations of skippers. In addition, behavioral observations of predation on caterpillars in the field will be made to compare the activity and composition of the natural enemy communities found on different food plants. In combination, these approaches will provide a uniquely comprehensive investigation of temporal variation in plant-based and enemy-based measures of success in a common herbivore. A better understanding of the factors determining the diets of plant-feeding insects will contribute significantly to the design of effective biological control strategies to minimize economic damage caused by insect pests. Because the herbivore under study feeds on several invasive plants, the results of this research will be useful to land managers charged with protecting the integrity of natural communities. Extensive educational outreach to K-5 schools in the Washington, DC, area will provide both students and teachers access to hands-on projects exposing them to ecological principles, the practice of careful observation, and the scientific method. Teachers will learn to use local insects in classroom exercises that support science curricula.

许多动物必须平衡寻找食物的需求，而在进食时被掠食者和捕食者捕食的风险。结果，食草动物的最佳食物来源或寄主植物可能会波动，因为植物营养品质和时空的捕食强度都会变化。该项目的目的是评估一系列植物物种，其毛毛虫目前用作食品植物的植物物种，评估一支普通蝴蝶的偏好和表现。 研究人员将建立一个这些常见植物的实验花园，并衡量随着时间的推移，植物中少年和成人船长的生存，生长和繁殖的差异。 这些数据将用于构建一个预测食品植物对船长当地人群的影响的生态模型。 此外，将对野外毛毛虫的捕食进行行为观察，以比较在不同食用植物上发现的天然敌人社区的活动和组成。结合起来，这些方法将对基于植物和敌人的普通食草动物成功措施的时间变化进行独特的全面调查。更好地了解决定植物喂养昆虫饮食的因素将对有效的生物控制策略的设计产生重大贡献，以最大程度地减少虫害造成的经济损害。 由于研究中的草食动物以几种侵入性植物为食，因此这项研究的结果将对负责保护自然社区完整性的土地管理者有用。 向华盛顿特区的K-5学校进行广泛的教育宣传，将为学生和教师提供动手实践项目，使他们暴露于生态原则，仔细观察的实践和科学方法。教师将在支持科学课程的课堂练习中学习使用当地昆虫。