DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The role of individual variation on predator-prey interactions and its joint effect with environmental temperature

论文研究：个体变异对捕食者-猎物相互作用的作用及其与环境温度的联合效应

• 批准号: 1501668
• 负责人: John DeLong
• 金额: $ 1.73万
• 依托单位: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-05-01 至 2018-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1501668&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; role; individual; variation

One important goal of ecology is to understand how characteristics, such as body dimensions and weight, among many others, affect the way species interact with their environment and how they survive and reproduce. To do so, ecologists have long measured average characteristics across the individuals of a given species. However, mounting mathematical evidence suggests that averages can be misleading, because much information is lost regarding how, and by how much, individuals differ in their characteristics. These differences may in turn be crucial to our understanding of whether species can survive in nature, but more importantly, taking these differences between individuals into account may be paramount to make accurate predictions about how populations will respond to environmental change. This research will test these ideas using both mathematical models and experiments. By quantifying the effects of individual variation on a critical process in different environments, the research will promote the advancement of science, support science education and diversity, and enhance broader understanding of science Despite theoretical predictions, whether variation actually has detectable effects upon ecological dynamics, and whether this effect interacts with other important drivers such as environmental temperature, is largely unknown. This project will quantify the joint effect of individual phenotypic variation and temperature on foraging rates using an integrative approach that merges mathematical models and microcosm experiments. Foraging rates of a small copepod, wherein body size affects predatory activity, on a protist will be quantified for different temperatures. These results will clarify how this largely overlooked aspect of every population may help to predict ecological changes with greater precision, informing decisions about how to respond to climate change. Broader impacts will include enhancement of science education by involving undergraduate students from underrepresented groups and minorities in experimental and theoretical approaches to ecology and through outreach activities on the predator-prey dynamics to be run in the "Science with a Scientist" childrens outreach event at the University of Nebraska Museum of Natural History that involves radio controlled robots as predators and prey.

生态学的一个重要目标是了解特征（例如身体维度和体重）如何影响物种与环境相互作用的方式以及它们如何生存和繁殖的方式。为此，生态学家长期以来在给定物种的个体中测量了平均特征。但是，越来越多的数学证据表明，平均值可能会产生误导，因为关于个人的特征与个人的不同信息以及对人的特征有所不同而丢失了很多信息。这些差异反过来又可能对我们对物种是否可以在自然中生存至关重要，但更重要的是，考虑到个人之间的这些差异可能是至关重要的，这对于对人口将如何对环境变化做出反应的准确预测至关重要。这项研究将使用数学模型和实验测试这些想法。通过量化单个变异对不同环境中关键过程的影响，该研究将促进科学，支持科学教育和多样性的发展，并增强对科学的更广泛的理解，尽管有理论上的预测，而变化实际上是否对生态动态具有可检测的影响，并且这种效果是否与其他重要驱动因素相互作用，例如环境温度（例如环境温度）。该项目将使用合并数学模型和缩影实验的综合方法来量化单个表型变化和温度对觅食率的关节效应。小型copepod的觅食率将在不同温度下量化捕食者的捕食者。 这些结果将阐明如何在每个人群中忽视这一方面，这可能有助于更精确地预测生态变化，从而为如何应对气候变化做出反应。更广泛的影响将包括通过使来自人数不足的团体和少数群体的本科生参与生态学的实验和理论方法以及通过对捕食者 - 普雷动态的宣传活动的活动来增强科学教育的增强，该方法将与内布拉斯加州大学自然历史博物馆的“科学家” Childrens外展活动中进行“科学”，该活动涉及无与伦比的无线电机器人，使其涉及庇护所和先前的机器人，并参与了Predors of Predors的派遣。