EAGER: The role of native and nonnative plants in structuring food webs in urban ecosystems

EAGER：本地和非本地植物在构建城市生态系统食物网中的作用

• 批准号: 2225735
• 负责人: Eric Wood
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-11-01 至 2024-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225735&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; role; native; nonnative; plants

Cities contain a mixture of native and nonnative plants that are often unusually diverse when compared with nearby natural areas. The high diversity of plants in cities suggests urban areas can potentially support a diverse mixture of feeding insects as well as birds that eat those insects. However, given that many plants in cities are not native to the region, it is unclear whether they provide the same conditions and benefits to local insects and wildlife. In this study, a team of researchers from California State University Los Angeles will assess the role of native and nonnative trees in supporting food webs composed of insects and birds. The research will focus on oak trees (genus, Quercus) as oaks are renowned for harboring high levels of insect diversity and supporting bird populations. It is not known if birds, which generally are abundant in oaks, can control the insects on those oak trees. Both native and nonnative oaks are planted throughout the Los Angeles study area thus offering an opportunity to compare the accumulation of insects on trees and the use of trees by birds. This project, which involves planting 200 oak trees in sets that include native and non-native species across a range of urban settings, is designed to provide clues about whether native versus nonnative trees support the most diverse and abundant collection of insects, and in turn, whether birds are attracted to feeding on those insects or to using native versus non-native oak trees differentially. The field locations for this project will be set in highly visible areas throughout Los Angeles, and thus public outreach and education will happen organically throughout the project. Further, the study will engage and employ students from underrepresented groups, with a focus on students from East Los Angeles, where California State University Los Angeles is located. Overall, this research will provide novel and unique outcomes for discerning how to better landscape and design cities to promote native biodiversity.The goal of this study is to critically evaluate the role of native and nonnative trees, in structuring urban food webs, composed of plants, insects, and birds, in Los Angeles, CA (L.A), USA. While these questions have been addressed in non-urban settings, almost no work has experimentally evaluated the potential influence of tree species on birds and insects in an urban setting. This research will address the question, are nonnative oak trees functionally similar to native trees in structuring urban food webs. The influence of birds will be inferred by surveys of bird usage and time spent in the different trees. The project will erect a large-scale field experiment, involving the planting of 200 native and nonnative oak trees (Quercus spp.) and a reference species, the Southern Magnolia, Magnolia grandiflora, at 10 locations throughout L.A. The study will include undergraduate students and a graduate student, plus project collaborators, to collect field data on plant growth, herbivory, insect and avian communities, and bird feeding behavior, on the native and nonnative trees at experimental sites. Further, the study will use sophisticated statistical analyses and laboratory methodologies, including leaf-trait analyses and DNA metabarcoding of insect communities on plants to elucidate food web networks/connections among trophic levels. The work will engage the broader community of Los Angeles through outreach displays and scheduled activities at experimental sites (ten institutions with high visitation rates of students and the public). Outreach events will focus on the importance of native plants, local biodiversity, and urban food webs. Further, the project will influence the ecology of the city as the research team will work to integrate research findings with the management of biodiversity in the urbanized region.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.

与附近的自然区域相比，城市包含的本地和非本地植物的混合物通常会异常多样。城市中植物的高度多样性表明，城市地区可以潜在地支持各种喂养昆虫以及吃这些昆虫的鸟类的混合物。但是，鉴于许多城市中的许多植物不是该地区的原生，因此尚不清楚它们是否为当地昆虫和野生动植物提供相同的条件和好处。在这项研究中，来自加利福尼亚州立大学洛杉矶的一组研究人员将评估本地和非本地树木在支持由昆虫和鸟类组成的食物网中的作用。这项研究将集中在橡树（属，魁北克）上，因为橡树以高水平的昆虫多样性和支撑鸟类种群而闻名。尚不清楚通常在橡木中丰富的鸟类是否可以控制那些橡树上的昆虫。 本地和非本地橡木都在整个洛杉矶研究区域种植，从而提供了比较昆虫在树木上的积累以及鸟类使用树木的机会。该项目涉及种植200棵橡树，包括在一系列城市环境中种植本机和非本地物种，旨在提供有关本地和非本地树木是否支持最多样化和丰富的昆虫收集的线索，而鸟类是否被鸟类吸引到这些昆虫或使用非本地橡木树对象的饲料中。该项目的现场位置将设置在洛杉矶的备受瞩目的地区，因此，在整个项目中将有机地进行公共宣传和教育。此外，这项研究将吸引并雇用来自代表性不足的团体的学生，重点关注来自洛杉矶加利福尼亚州立大学所在的东洛杉矶的学生。总体而言，这项研究将为辨别如何改善景观和设计城市来促进本地生物多样性的新颖和独特的结果。该研究的目的是批判性地评估本地和非本地树的作用，在构建由植物，昆虫和鸟类组成的城市食品网中，在美国加利福尼亚州洛杉矶，美国，美国，美国，美国。尽管在非城市环境中已经解决了这些问题，但几乎没有工作在实验中评估了树种对城市环境中鸟类和昆虫的潜在影响。这项研究将解决一个问题，非本地橡树在构建城市食物网中的本地树上功能相似。鸟类的影响将通过对鸟类使用和在不同树木中花费的时间进行调查来推断。该项目将架设大规模的实地实验，涉及在洛杉矶的10个地点种植200种本地和非本地橡树（Quercus spp。）和参考物种，南部木兰，木兰grandifora。实验地点的非本地树。此外，该研究将使用复杂的统计分析和实验室方法论，包括对植物上昆虫群落的叶片属性分析和DNA元编码，以阐明营养水平之间的食物网络/连接。这项工作将通过实验地点（十个具有高探访学生和公众访问率的机构）的外展展览和预定活动来吸引洛杉矶更广泛的社区。外展活动将重点介绍本地植物，当地生物多样性和城市食品网的重要性。此外，该项目将影响城市的生态，因为研究团队将致力于将研究发现与城市化地区的生物多样性管理整合。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且认为值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准通过评估来进行评估。