CAREER: Cooperation on the tree of life: Understanding the drivers of mite-plant defense mutualisms via the integration of evolution, ecology, and education

职业：生命之树上的合作：通过进化、生态和教育的整合了解螨虫-植物防御互利共生的驱动因素

• 批准号: 2236747
• 负责人: marjorie weber
• 金额: $ 120万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2028-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236747&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Cooperation; tree; life; Understanding

Cooperative interactions between species are common in nature and play a central role in the generation and maintenance of biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems. However, our understanding of cooperative interactions in the natural world has historically lagged behind the study of antagonistic interactions, such as competition and predation, perpetuating gaps in our ability to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function. This research focuses on a highly common, but relatively unexplored, cooperative interaction between North American trees and “bodyguard” mites that live on leaves and protect plants against disease. This research asks why some tree species cooperate with mites as a form of defense, while other closely related tree species do not, testing a range of hypotheses about the factors that promote (or break down) cooperation in nature. This project will also include the development of a new science course that allows students to participate in research on cooperative interactions in plants and develop critical thinking skills through the study of trees. Together, the research and education goals of this proposal will result in publicly available data on economically and ecologically important North American trees, their herbivores, and the beneficial mites that protect them from pests and disease. The project will also result in the hands-on training of young scientists, and will include the development of tools aimed at increasing the visibility of research in classrooms.This research will examine processes driving large-scale patterns of variation in investment in plant-animal defense mutualisms. Specifically, the project will investigate the drivers of ecological, micro-, and macro-evolutionary variation in mite domatia (heritable plant structures that house predaceous and fungiviorous mites) at three scales: (a) across eastern North American forest communities, (b) within three genera (Viburnum, Vitis, and Prunus) and (c) within three geographically wide-spread species, Vitis riparia, Viburnum dentatum, and Prunus serotina. This evolutionary research is coupled with an educational plan that integrates data objectives with teaching/training goals through the development of a new mid-level non-majors course titled “Seeing the forest and the trees: The Study of Trees through Science, Art, and Society.” The course will incorporate research activities into undergraduate education to enhance scientific literacy, and will be aimed at groups that have traditionally lacked exposure to science (non-science majors), combining humanities and science perspectives into a course focused on the study of trees. Together, the research and education aims will allow for tests of evolutionary and ecological signatures consistent with long-standing hypotheses about ecological drivers of mutualism across geography and evolutionary time.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.

物种之间的合作相互作用在性质上很普遍，并且在生物多样性的产生和维持和生态系统的功能中起着核心作用。但是，我们对自然世界中合作互动的理解历史上一直落后于对拮抗互动的研究，例如竞争和预测，使我们维持生物多样性和生态系统功能的能力延续了差距。这项研究的重点是北美树木与生活在叶子上的“保镖”螨之间的高度常见但相对出乎意料的合作互动，并保护植物免受疾病的侵害。这项研究询问了为什么有些树种与螨虫合作作为一种防御形式，而其他密切相关的树种则没有，对促进自然合作的因素进行了一系列假设。该项目还将包括开发新的科学课程，该课程使学生可以通过研究树木的研究来参与植物中的合作互动研究并发展批判性思维能力。共同，该提案的研究和教育目标将导致有关经济和生态上重要的北美树木，它们的草食动物以及保护它们免受害虫和疾病的有益螨的公开数据。该项目还将导致对年轻科学家的动手培训，并将包括开发旨在提高课堂研究知名度的工具。这项研究将研究推动植物动物自动防御互助中投资差异的大规模差异的过程。 Specifically, the project will investigate the drivers of ecological, micro-, and macro-evolutionary variation in mites domatia (heritable plant structures that house predaceous and fungiviorous mites) at three scales: (a) across Eastern North American forest communities, (b) within three genera (Viburnum, Vitis, and Prunus) and (c) within three geographically Wide-spread species, Vitis riparia, Viburnum牙本质和李子塞拉蒂纳。这项进化研究与一项教育计划相结合，该计划将数据目标与教学/培训目标融合在一起，通过开发新的中层非医师课程，标题为“看森林和树木：通过科学，艺术和社会研究树木的研究”。该课程将将研究活动纳入本科教育，以增强科学素养，并将针对传统上缺乏科学接触的群体（非科学专业），将人类和科学的观点结合在一起，成为针对树木研究的课程。总之，研究和教育的目的将允许测试进化和生态特征，这与在地理和进化时间之间关于互助主义的生态驱动力的长期假设一致。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且我们通过使用基金会的智力和更广泛的影响来评估我们的支持诚实地认为，我们被认为是诚实的。