Collaborative Research: Superinvaders: testing a general hypothesis of forest invasions by woody species across the Americas

合作研究：超级入侵者：测试美洲木本物种入侵森林的一般假设

• 批准号: 2331276
• 负责人: Jason Fridley
• 金额: $ 65.49万
• 依托单位: Clemson University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2028-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331276&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Superinvaders; testing; general

Invasive plant species are a form of biological pollution that cost billions of dollars each year in lost crop and timber production, and they are one of the principal threats to native biodiversity. Effective management of invasive species requires that scientists understand how they compete successfully with native species. One of the least understood behaviors of invasive plants is that a single invasive species can dominate in many different types of environments. In particular, scientists have identified a group of ‘superinvaders’ that, counter to what is expected for native species, can grow very fast in sunlight but also tolerate heavy shade in the forest understory. Although there is good evidence that this behavior drives their increasing abundance in both temperate and tropical forests, scientists don’t understand how this occurs: why should invasive species play by different rules than native species in the same environment? One hypothesis is that invasive species have fewer pests than native species, and this advantage allows them to persist in stressful environments. In this project, ecologists will experimentally test this idea in many different types of forests to determine how this ‘superinvader’ behavior emerges. Moreover, by linking how plants simultaneously respond to pests and environmental stress, scientists will better understand how species coexist to foster native biodiversity. The project will train two US doctoral students, one postdoctoral scholar and numerous undergraduate students. The project will foster international collaboration, research partnerships and knowledge transfer across the Americas. This will benefit US scientists, doctoral student trainees and postdoctoral scholar. A new Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of South Carolina and a summer workshop in Puerto Rico will contribute to broadening participation by undergraduate students from groups under-represented in science and technology. The postdoctoral scholar will lead an effort to create a Forest Superinvader Network that will increase the scope of this project to the global level to facilitate international knowledge transfer and more effective forest and land management worldwide through better understanding of plant invasion mechanisms.The project involves two components. In the first, research teams will monitor the growth and survival of native and invasive tree saplings across lights gradients in 10 locations across the Americas, including temperate forests in Connecticut and South Carolina, tropical forests in Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean, and subtropical forests in southern Brazil. Using field measurements of metabolic activity of different tissues above- and belowground, researchers will test the hypothesis that lower energy costs in invaders, as a result of fewer pests, allows these invaders to circumvent functional tradeoffs typically associated with fast growth and shade tolerance. In a second component conducted in five locations, researchers will experimentally remove insects and fungal pathogens from native and invasive saplings to test whether shade tolerance is driven by pest loads. In both components, researchers will build and test integrative models of plant behavior that consider the energetic costs of seemingly disparate behaviors (e.g., resource capture versus defense) to further scientific understanding of critical linkages between plant functional ecology and population dynamics.This project is jointly funded by the Population and Community Ecology Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.

侵入性植物是一种生物学污染的一种形式，每年损失的作物和木材生产耗资数十亿美元，它们是对本地生物多样性的主要威胁之一。对入侵物种的有效管理要求科学家了解他们如何成功与本地物种竞争。侵入性植物的最低知识行为之一是，单个入侵物种可以在许多不同类型的环境中占主导地位。特别是，科学家已经确定了一组“超级投影”，与对本地物种的期望相反，在阳光下可以非常快地生长，但在森林理解中也可以忍受沉重的阴影。尽管有充分的证据表明这种行为在温度和热带森林中都驱动了它们的丰富性，但科学家不了解这种情况的发生：为什么在同一环境中，入侵物种与本地物种不同？一个假设是，入侵物种的害虫少于本地物种，这一优势使它们能够在压力的环境中持续存在。在这个项目中，生态学家将在许多不同类型的森林中实验测试这一想法，以确定这种“超级信息”行为如何出现。此外，通过将植物简单地应对害虫和环境压力的反应联系起来，科学家将更好地理解物种如何在促进本地生物多样性的情况下进行。该项目将培训两名美国博士生，一名博士后科学和众多本科生。该项目将促进整个美洲的国际合作，研究伙伴关系和知识转移。这将使我们的科学家，博士生学员和博士后科学受益。南卡罗来纳大学的本科生课程和波多黎各的夏季研讨会的新研究经验将有助于扩大来自科学技术不足的小组的本科生的参与。博士后科学将努力建立一个森林超级传播网络，该网络将通过更好地了解植物入侵机制，将该项目的范围提高到全球层面，以促进国际知识转移以及在全球范围内更有效的森林和土地管理。该项目涉及两个组成部分。首先，研究团队将监测整个美洲10个地点的灯光渐变的本地和侵入性树树苗的生长和生存，包括康涅狄格州和南卡罗来纳州的温度森林，墨西哥的热带森林，墨西哥，哥斯达黎加，加勒比海，加勒比海以及巴西南部森林的森林森林。 Using field measurements of metabolic activity of different tissues above- and below, researchers will test the hypothesis that lower energy costs in invaders, as a result of fewer pests, allows these In both components, researchers will build and test integrative models of plant behavior that consider the energetic costs of seemingly disparate behaviors (e.g., resource capture) versus defense) to further scientific understanding of critical linkages between plant functional ecology and population dynamics.This project is该奖项由人口和社区生态学计划和既定的竞争研究计划（EPSCOR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来评估，被视为珍贵的支持。