RCN: The Herbivory Variability Network: Expanding beyond the mean to embrace higher moments in the ecology and evolution of species interactions

RCN：草食变异网络：超越平均值，拥抱生态学和物种相互作用进化中的更高时刻

• 批准号: 2409605
• 负责人: William Wetzel
• 金额: $ 55.53万
• 依托单位: Montana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2026-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2409605&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RCN; Herbivory; Variability; Network; Expanding

The importance of variation to the outcomes of interactions between organisms is understudied. Typically, studies of ecological and evolutionary interactions focus on means of interaction metrics, although other aspects of distributions of those metrics, such as variance and skew, can also be critical for ecology and evolution. The Herbivory Variability Research Coordination Network will advance science by expanding thinking beyond a focus on means to include the causes and consequences of variability itself. To illustrate, variation in temperature and precipitation can be more important than averages to species performance and interactions. Less appreciated is that variation in the abundance of one species across space and time can drive the outcome of its interactions with other species and may even impact evolutionary trajectories. Understanding the role of variability in the ecology and evolution of species interactions is becoming increasingly important as climate change and biodiversity loss lead to increased environmental variability and decreased biological variability. The network will focus on herbivory because it is an ecologically and economically important interaction that is easy to measure, exhibits great variation within and among species, and is a key variable in many important ecological and evolutionary theories. The foundations developed for studying variability in herbivory, however, could be extended to better understand any type of species interactions. Because the causes and consequences of interaction variability relate to so many disciplines, the network will bring together ecologists, evolutionary biologists, mathematicians, statisticians, chemists, and other scientists to collaborate via working groups that tackle synthesis, theory, data, and education projects.This project will also afford research training opportunities. This project will form a Research Coordination Network (The Herbivory Variability Network, “HerbVar”), which will bring together scientists from across fields and career stages with the common goal of understanding the causes and consequences of interaction variability. This diverse and interdisciplinary network will (1) synthesize existing data and knowledge on interaction variability and identify directions for future work; (2) assemble a quantitative toolbox for studying variability in species interactions; (3) coordinate globally distributed data collection; and (4) educate students about the importance of variability and how to study it.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.

通常，生态和进化相互作用的研究侧重于相互作用指标的手段，尽管这些指标分布的其他方面（例如方差和偏差）对于生态学也至关重要。草食动物变异研究协调网络将通过扩大对变异本身的原因和后果的思考来推进科学发展。举例来说，温度和降水的变化对于物种表现和相互作用可能比平均值更重要。少则被赞赏随着气候变化和物种相互作用的发展，一个物种的丰度在空间和时间上的变化可以驱动其与其他物种相互作用的结果，甚至可能影响进化轨迹。生物多样性丧失导致环境变异性增加和生物变异性降低，该网络将重点关注草食性动物，因为它是一种生态和经济上重要的相互作用，易于测量，在物种内部和物种之间表现出巨大的变异，并且是许多重要生态的关键变量。和进化理论的发展。然而，对食草动物变异的研究可以扩展到更好地理解任何类型的物种相互作用，因为相互作用变异的原因和后果涉及许多学科，该网络将汇集生态学家、进化生物学家、数学家、统计学家、化学家和科学家。其他科学家通过处理合成、理论、数据和教育项目的工作组进行合作。该项目还将提供研究培训机会。该项目将形成一个研究协调网络（草食变异网络， “HerbVar”），它将汇集来自不同领域和职业阶段的科学家，其共同目标是了解相互作用变异性的原因和后果，这个多样化和跨学科的网络将（1）综合有关相互作用变异性的现有数据和知识并确定方向。用于未来的工作；（2）构建用于研究物种相互作用的定量变异工具箱；（3）全球分布的数据收集；以及（4）教育学生关于变异的协调重要性以及如何研究它。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命；并通过评估认为值得支持利用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准。