Collaborative Research: BEE: Impacts of abiotic environment, pathogen resistance and Pre-Columbian human management on Neotropical canopy palm abundances

合作研究：BEE：非生物环境、病原体抗性和前哥伦布时期人类管理对新热带树冠棕榈丰度的影响

• 批准号: 2039842
• 负责人: Jordan Karubian
• 金额: $ 76.92万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2039842&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; BEE; Impacts; abiotic

In tropical rainforests, local abundances of closely related tree species can vary by several orders of magnitude, providing a compelling context in which to revisit a core theme in ecology: why is it that some species are extremely common, while others are rare? This project seeks to answer this question in South American canopy palm trees, a diverse group that includes several geographically widespread species that vary in degree of usefulness to humans and in patterns of abundance. The research seeks to quantify the relative and combined influences of ecological, evolutionary, and anthropogenic processes on palm abundances. The research is expected to advance scientific knowledge by integrating perspectives from separate disciplines to achieve a more synthetic understanding of how human, ecological, and evolutionary impacts interact to shape biotic systems. The project has important societal and economic implications because palms provide food, income, and material for basic needs for millions of humans around the globe. Educational films and teaching modules produced during the project are expected to be used by thousands of high school and college students in the United States. Graduate and undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and high school teachers will receive training.The research employs a multi-scale sampling design to link local ecological and microevolutionary processes to landscape patterns of abundance to test two major hypotheses: 1) that effective defenses via resistance genes (R genes) give common species the ability to escape negative density dependence, and 2) that human management over the past several millennia has promoted the abundances of useful species. This is achieved by combining contemporary genomic analysis and aerial imaging and machine learning capable of identifying and mapping individual canopy trees over vast areas. Regular censuses provide information on survival of adults and seedlings of focal species in relation to local abundances, and a nursery experiment will further explore relationships between R gene diversity and seedling survival. The project also tests potential impacts of Pre-Columbian humans on contemporary tree populations using paleo-ecological sampling of soil cores, including charcoal and phytolith sampling, while accounting for abiotic environment. This approach is expected to shed light on the relative and combined impacts of negative density dependence, abiotic environment, and Pre-Columbian human management, all thought to influence abundance in some way but typically treated in isolation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在热带雨林中，密切相关的树种的局部丰度可能会相差几个数量级，这为重新审视生态学的核心主题提供了令人信服的背景：为什么有些物种极其常见，而另一些物种却很罕见？该项目试图在南美冠层棕榈树中回答这个问题，南美冠层棕榈树是一个多样化的群体，其中包括几种地理上广泛分布的物种，这些物种对人类的有用程度和丰度模式各不相同。该研究旨在量化生态、进化和人为过程对棕榈丰度的相对和综合影响。该研究预计将通过整合不同学科的观点来推进科学知识，以更全面地了解人类、生态和进化影响如何相互作用以塑造生物系统。该项目具有重要的社会和经济影响，因为棕榈树为全球数百万人提供了满足基本需求的食物、收入和材料。该项目期间制作的教育影片和教学模块预计将被美国数千名高中生和大学生使用。研究生和本科生、博士后研究员和高中教师将接受培训。该研究采用多尺度抽样设计，将当地生态和微进化过程与丰富的景观模式联系起来，以测试两个主要假设：1）有效防御通过抗性基因（R 基因）使常见物种能够摆脱负密度依赖性，2）过去几千年的人类管理促进了有用物种的丰富度。 这是通过结合当代基因组分析、航空成像和机器学习来实现的，这些机器学习能够识别和绘制大面积的单个树冠树木。定期普查提供了与当地丰度相关的重点物种成虫和幼苗存活率的信息，苗圃实验将进一步探讨 R 基因多样性与幼苗存活率之间的关系。 该项目还利用土壤核心的古生态采样（包括木炭和植硅体采样）来测试前哥伦布时代人类对当代树木种群的潜在影响，同时考虑非生物环境。这种方法预计将揭示负密度依赖性、非生物环境和前哥伦布时代人类管理的相对和综合影响，所有这些都被认为以某种方式影响丰度，但通常是孤立对待的。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并具有通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。