| NSF Org: |
DEB Division Of Environmental Biology |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | February 7, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 13, 2012 |
| Award Number: | 1146119 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Simon Malcomber
smalcomb@nsf.gov (703)292-8227 DEB Division Of Environmental Biology BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | February 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | January 31, 2016 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $213,508.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $220,933.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
506 S WRIGHT ST URBANA IL US 61801-3620 (217)333-2187 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
IL US 61801-3620 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | PHYLOGENETIC SYSTEMATICS |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
A central goal of modern biology is to understand the origin and maintenance of biodiversity. In particular, understanding the enormous diversity of tropical communities has been a serious challenge. The research group addresses this challenge by using a well-studied tropical system composed of plants, specialist caterpillars feeding exclusively on this group of plants, and a group of specialist wasps that attack the caterpillars. The diversity within each of these groups is enormous (>2,000 species), and the goal for this project is to better understand the evolution of biodiversity by testing specific hypotheses addressing patterns of plant chemical evolution and the role of plant chemistry in biodiversity. To address these hypotheses, the collaborative group consists of two synthetic chemists to elucidate the plant chemistry, one molecular ecologist to reconstruct the evolutionary history of each group, three taxonomists to describe and identify organisms, and two chemical ecologists to describe the interaction between each group.
The hypothesis that the evolution of one organismal group (i.e. plants) can affect the evolution of another interacting group (i.e. caterpillars) is not a new idea; however, the approach to address this hypothesis is novel, as they focus on multiple feeding groups (plants, caterpillars, wasps), which has rarely been undertaken. In addition, the diverse collaborative team allows the team to thoroughly explore all aspects of this system to yield high explanatory power for the question addressed. Finally, understanding the evolution of biodiversity will help with conservation efforts to maintain species rich ecosystems so that the interactions that give structure to ecosystems remain intact.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project sought to more broadly investigate the coevolutionary interactions between Piper plants, caterpillars in the diverse genus Eois that feed on the Piper plants, and parasitoid wasps that attack and feed upon the caterpillars. The work brought together the use of DNA sequence data to explore the evolution of all three groups of organisms, field studies in Ecuador and Panama, and taxonomic studies of the insects and plants. The results have some practical significance for understanding the roles of the secondary plant compounds in Piper plants, which include many fragrant spices and odors used by humans (including black pepper). We were able to publish a study comparing preliminary phylogenetic results at all three trophic levels to demonstrate the complexity of the interactions. The wasp relationships are now based on phylogenomic analyses of 380 genes, and show that multiple groups of wasps colonized the Eois caterpillars on Piper. Additional taxonomic studies have supplied taxonomic descriptions for dozens of new species of the wasps (genera Glyptapanteles, Parapanteles, Prasmodon, Semdaphne, Iconella and others) as well as new species of Piper (our collaborators at the University of Nevada-Reno are handling the caterpillar descriptions and relationships). We have trained a Ph. D. student at the University of Illinois, and several undergraduate students, including an REU student, in ecological and taxonomic research. Data have been deposited in publically available repositories, and the work has been presented nationally and internationally through both presentations and a series of journal articles.
Last Modified: 05/18/2016
Modified by: James B Whitfield
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
