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要和进食时被捕食者吃掉的风险。因此，草食动物的最佳食物来源或寄主植物可能会发生波动，因为植物的营养质量和捕食强度都会随时间和空间的变化而变化。该项目的目标是评估普通蝴蝶（银斑船长蝴蝶）对其毛虫目前用作食用植物的一系列植物物种的偏好和表现。 研究人员将为这些常见植物建造一个实验花园，并测量植物中幼年和成年船长的生存、生长和繁殖随时间的变化。 这些数据将用于构建一个生态模型，预测食用植物对当地船长种群的影响。 此外，还将对田间毛毛虫的捕食行为进行观察，以比较不同食用植物上发现的天敌群落的活动和组成。结合起来，这些方法将为常见食草动物基于植物和基于敌人的成功衡量标准的时间变化提供独特的全面研究。更好地了解决定植物食性昆虫饮食的因素将大大有助于设计有效的生物控制策略，以尽量减少害虫造成的经济损失。 由于所研究的草食动物以几种入侵植物为食，因此这项研究的结果将对负责保护自然群落完整性的土地管理者有用。 华盛顿特区地区 K-5 学校的广泛教育活动将为学生和教师提供实践项目的机会，让他们了解生态原理、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。