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The Evolution of Tolerance to Browsing

EPA Grant Number: U914995
Title: The Evolution of Tolerance to Browsing
Investigators: Juenger, Thomas E.
Institution: University of Chicago
EPA Project Officer: McClure, Karen
Project Period: January 1, 1996 through January 1, 1998
Project Amount: $102,000
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (1996)
Research Category: Academic Fellowships , Fellowship - Ecology and Ecosystems , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration

Description:

Objective:

The objective of this research project is to apply ecological and quantitative genetic experiments to evaluate the factors that influence levels of tolerance to grazing in a natural plant population. These results will expand the body of knowledge of herbivore-imposed selection for tolerance traits and the potential dynamics of the evolution of tolerance.

Approach:

Tolerance can be viewed as a plastic response of plant development in response to herbivore damage. Plants often exhibit plastic responses to damage, and more importantly, different genotypes may differ in the extent of their plastic responses. This split-brood quantitative genetic experiment will evaluate the relative importance of environmental versus genetic factors on levels of tolerance to browsing in a natural plant population. Similarly, phenotypic natural selection experiments will be used to test for the shape and form of herbivore-imposed selection on putative tolerance traits. These results have been coupled with standard models of the evolution of plasticity to evaluate the dynamics of the evolution of tolerance.

Supplemental Keywords:

fellowship, tolerance, browsing, grazing, natural plant population, tolerance traits, plant development. , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Scientific Discipline, RFA, ECOSYSTEMS, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, Ecological Monitoring, Ecological Indicators, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecology and Ecosystems, ecosystem effects, ecological response, plant development and tolerance traits, ecological research, adaptation, genetic consequences, plant genotypes, ecosystem assessment, plant community structure, ecological assessment, genetic differentiation, assessment methods

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The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

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