DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The role of phenology in plant-pollinator interactions and plant reproduction

论文研究：物候在植物-传粉媒介相互作用和植物繁殖中的作用

• 批准号: 1311257
• 负责人: Rebecca Irwin
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: Dartmouth College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-05-15 至 2015-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1311257&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; role; phenology; plant

Phenology, the timing of natural history events, is important to all organisms. Each spring, for example, butterflies and bees emerge to forage on freshly blooming flowers ? all examples of phenological events. Synchrony in these events is typically determined by changes in temperature or day length. Increased temperatures due to climate change have altered phenologies of plants and animals, in some cases causing "mismatches" between organisms that have historically emerged in abundance at the same times. These mismatches can have dramatic consequences for survival and reproduction, especially when one species depends heavily on another species for its success. An example of this is the emergence of spring wildflowers before emergence of the insects that pollinate them. The proposed experiment targets the mechanisms behind changes in plant reproduction due to altered phenology, and will contribute to the current understanding of how altered phenology affects pollination of native plants.Phenology is one of the most sensitive ecological responses to climate change, and changes in phenology are well documented. However, in the face of climate change, the lack of information on the effects of altered phenology on pollination is troubling. The vast majority of flowering plants, including many food crops, rely on insects or other animals for pollination, and pollinators provide an estimated $112 billion/year in ecosystem services; therefore, investigating how climate change could affect plants, pollinators and their interactions is critically important. The results of this study will provide insight into how a key ecosystem service will respond to variation in phenology associated with climate warming. In addition, the proposed research integrates teaching, mentoring, and field investigation and provides a field research opportunity for an undergraduate student.

物候学，即自然历史事件的时间安排，对所有生物体都很重要。例如，每年春天，蝴蝶和蜜蜂都会出现，以新鲜盛开的花朵为食？所有物候事件的例子。这些事件的同步性通常由温度或白天长度的变化决定。气候变化导致的气温升高改变了植物和动物的物候，在某些情况下导致历史上同时大量出现的生物体之间的“不匹配”。这些不匹配可能会对生存和繁殖产生巨大的影响，特别是当一个物种的成功严重依赖另一个物种时。 一个例子是春季野花的出现先于授粉昆虫的出现。 拟议的实验针对物候改变导致的植物繁殖变化背后的机制，并将有助于目前对物候改变如何影响本地植物授粉的理解。物候是对气候变化和物候变化最敏感的生态反应之一有据可查。然而，面对气候变化，缺乏有关物候变化对授粉影响的信息令人不安。绝大多数开花植物，包括许多粮食作物，都依赖昆虫或其他动物进行授粉，授粉媒介每年提供估计 1120 亿美元的生态系统服务；因此，研究气候变化如何影响植物、传粉媒介及其相互作用至关重要。这项研究的结果将深入了解关键的生态系统服务如何应对与气候变暖相关的物候变化。此外，拟议的研究整合了教学、指导和实地调查，为本科生提供了实地研究的机会。