项目编号: | 1406262
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项目名称: | Dissertation Research: Testing how traits shape individual resource use in response to competition: implications for ecosystem functioning |
作者: | Gregory Gilbert
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承担单位: | University of California-Santa Cruz
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批准年: | 2013
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开始日期: | 2014-05-15
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结束日期: | 2015-04-30
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资助金额: | USD16380
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资助来源: | US-NSF
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项目类别: | Standard Grant
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国家: | US
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语种: | 英语
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特色学科分类: | Biological Sciences - Environmental Biology
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英文关键词: | fidelity
; researcher
; competition
; ecosystem function
; desert museum
; recent research
; intensive field research experience
; doctoral dissertation
; important ecosystem service
; bumblebee
; flower
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英文摘要: | Many species of plants depend on insects for pollination, including most of the fruits and vegetables that humans eat. However, for pollen to fertilize a flower, it must generally come from the same species of plant. A critical attribute of insect pollinators is thus their fidelity, how likely they are to carry pollen from one flower to another flower of the same species. One reason that bees are especially valued as pollinators is their high fidelity, but recent research has shown that the fidelity of bees can vary. This project will test which specific factors enhance or diminish fidelity in bees. Besides increasing scientific understanding of an important ecosystem service, the project will add a new component to a doctoral dissertation and provide intensive field research experience for two undergraduate students. To communicate results to the general public, researchers will help create an outreach program on the importance of pollinators at the Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
Previous work on pollination by bumblebees in meadows in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado shows that competition between bumblebees for flowers promotes fidelity. However, this depends on the mean length of the tongue of a species: when other species of bumblebees are removed, shorter tongued species tend to lose fidelity more and plant reproduction decreases more. This project will test whether variation between individuals within a species has the same effect. Researchers will remove all but one species of bumblebee from areas in meadows and follow the flights and measure the tongue lengths of individual bees. Results will advance knowledge of the ecology of fidelity in pollination. More broadly, research will show how differences between individual animals cause them to respond differently to competition, with consequences for ecosystem function. |
资源类型: | 项目
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标识符: | http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/96910
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Appears in Collections: | 影响、适应和脆弱性 气候减缓与适应
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Recommended Citation: |
Gregory Gilbert. Dissertation Research: Testing how traits shape individual resource use in response to competition: implications for ecosystem functioning. 2013-01-01.
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