DISSERTATION RESEARCH: A mechanistic test of the keystone mutualism hypothesis

论文研究：基石互利共生假说的机械检验

• 批准号: 1404177
• 负责人: Michael Singer
• 金额: $ 1.98万
• 依托单位: Wesleyan University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-06-01 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1404177&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; mechanistic; test; keystone

This project will investigate how ecological interactions among caterpillars, treehoppers, and ants determine the health trees. Caterpillars damage forest trees by eating leaves and treehoppers feed on trees by sucking sap. An important consequence of sap-feeding by treehoppers is their excretion of a sugary solution called honeydew. Some forest-dwelling ants depend on the honeydew for food. This relationship is called a food-for-protection mutualism because ants receive carbohydrate-rich food, while treehoppers receive protection from predators by the ants. In this project, investigators will study how this interaction between ants and treehoppers affects all participants, and how the outcome impacts forest health.Societal benefits of this project are several-fold. First, results from the research will contribute to the scientific understanding of pest control in forests. Second, the project will contribute to education about forest ecology and entomology through the training of undergraduate research assistants, as well as through broader educational benefits to college students, public school teachers, and members of the public. Third, the investigators will partner with the Connecticut Forest and Park Association (CFPA), which offers outdoor education programs for teachers and members of the public. More specifically, this research will experimentally test several hypothesized mechanisms for top-down trophic effects of ant-sap-feeder mutualisms in a temperate forest community. This system contains multiple species of predatory ants interacting with sap-feeding insects (mainly Membracidae). Ant-sap-feeder mutualisms may trigger top-down trophic effects on caterpillars and plants via increases in total ant abundance (the "density increase hypothesis"), changes in the behavior of individual ants (the "behavioral modification hypothesis"), or changes in ant community structure (the "community shift hypothesis"). Experiments will be used to distinguish among these hypotheses. The community scope of this study system, which currently lacks an invasive ant species, is novel and important because it offers an opportunity to test ant-community mechanisms for keystone mutualism effects as well as ant density- and ant trait-related mechanisms in a relatively intact ecosystem.

该项目将研究毛毛虫、角蝉和蚂蚁之间的生态相互作用如何决定树木的健康。毛毛虫通过吃树叶来破坏森林树木，而角蝉则通过吸吮树液以树木为食。角蝉取食汁液的一个重要后果是它们分泌出一种称为蜜露的含糖溶液。一些森林蚂蚁以蜜露为食。这种关系被称为食物保护互利共生，因为蚂蚁获得富含碳水化合物的食物，而角蝉则得到蚂蚁的保护，免受捕食者的侵害。在该项目中，研究人员将研究蚂蚁和角蝉之间的这种相互作用如何影响所有参与者，以及结果如何影响森林健康。该项目的社会效益是多方面的。首先，研究结果将有助于科学认识森林害虫防治。其次，该项目将通过本科生研究助理的培训以及为大学生、公立学校教师和公众带来更广泛的教育利益，为森林生态学和昆虫学教育做出贡献。第三，调查人员将与康涅狄格州森林公园协会（CFPA）合作，该协会为教师和公众提供户外教育项目。更具体地说，这项研究将通过实验测试温带森林群落中蚂蚁汁液-饲养者互利共生的自上而下的营养效应的几种假设机制。该系统包含多种掠食性蚂蚁，它们与食液昆虫（主要是膜蚁科）相互作用。蚂蚁-汁液饲养者的互利共生可能会通过增加蚂蚁总丰度（“密度增加假说”）、个体蚂蚁行为的变化（“行为修正假说”）或改变来触发对毛毛虫和植物的自上而下的营养效应。蚂蚁群落结构（“群落转移假说”）。将使用实验来区分这些假设。该研究系统的群落范围目前缺乏入侵蚂蚁物种，是新颖且重要的，因为它提供了一个机会来测试蚂蚁群落机制的关键互利共生效应以及蚂蚁密度和蚂蚁性状相关机制。完整的生态系统。