NSF-IOS-BSF: When physiology meets landscape ecology

Intensive use of agricultural land often modifies the landscape by dividing continuous natural habitat into smaller and more isolated patches. While it is widely recognized that landscape fragmentation is a main cause of species extinction, less is known about how this impacts the function of organisms that do persist in the modified environment. Understanding these effects is complicated by the fact that fragmentation can affect organisms directly but also indirectly, by altering the patch microclimatic conditions. We integrated satellite image analysis of the ecological characteristics of patches in a fragmented habitat with behavioral assays, to disentangle the direct and indirect effects of fragmentation on the locomotor behavior of a ground-dwelling darkling beetle, Zophosis punctata (Tenebrionidae), in the Southern Judea Lowlands in Israel. We found that although habitat fragmentation could affect beetle locomotion directly, fragmentation-related increases in patch temperature played an important role in explaining variation in beetle locomotion across an agricultural landscape. Specifically, beetles from highly fragmented landscapes, which included warmer habitat patches, showed high locomotor intermittence, frequent pausing events during locomotion. Intermittent locomotion, as opposed to steady locomotion, may provide physiological and fitness benefits in fragmented landscapes, such as mitigating performance limitations imposed by extreme thermal conditions. This study shows that the potential consequences of landscape fragmentation on the organism function are likely to be underestimated when fragmentation-related microclimate change is ignored.

This grant supported Insect Discovery, an outreach program which teaches biological concepts to Tucson AZ 2nd grade students using insects as models. The program is designed to stimulate students’ scientific curiosity through hands-on activities using live and preserved insects in active, discovery-based inquiry that incorporates state science and math standards. Its main focus is two-hour long workshops designed for 2nd graders. An on-campus lab is devoted to these workshops, which include four activity stations that teach about biological diversity, animal behavior and adaptation. Undergraduate preceptors staff each station, are taught scientific outreach and receive course credit (ECOL 497A). To accommodate those not able to enroll in the workshops, a second avenue of reaching these students has been initiated: classroom visits by graduate students who are trained in science outreach. Sixty-three percent of the participating classes have >50% of the students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches, and 66% of these classes have >50% minority students. Insect Discovery provides financial aid to the poorest schools to rent the buses necessary to transport the children to the workshops. Hearing-impaired students have regularly participated in both classroom visits and workshops. Throughout the duration of this study, and despite constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Insect Discovery reached a total of 8,656 students in 415 classrooms from 153 schools. These students were reached through 102 workshops and 313 classroom visits, which trained 41 undergraduate and 17 graduate students in science outreach.