Dean of Postgraduate Research
Vice-Chancellor’s Office
Extension: 7285
Email:
lucy.johnston@canterbury.ac.nz
Summer Research Scholarship Scheme
2014-2015
Project Application Form
Please complete and submit the application form as a WORD document and send to
summerscholarships@canterbury.ac.nz
The Project
Title of Project (max 30 words):
Quantifying the units of co-evolution in pollination networks
Project Leader(s):
Daniel B. Stouffer
Host Department/Organization:
School of Biological Sciences
Other persons involved in this topic/activity:
(List other significant members involved along with their affiliation to the research project.)
Name
Affiliation to project
Brief outline of project
Describe the proposed research project – maximum of 400 words (box will expand as you type).
Note that this information will be published on the web in order to attract student applicants and therefore be
mindful of any Intellectual Property issues
Natural communities of plants and their pollinators can be studied as complex ecological networks. To date,
these networks have largely been studied in order to better determine the relationship betweennetwork
structure ecosystem properties such as competition and stability. One aspect of network structure that is
widely believed to promote stability is compartmentalization - the tendency for species to form clusters which
interact more closely with each other than with species outside their cluster. In food webs, high levels of
compartmentalization tend to promote stability by limiting the spread of disturbance, and this mechanism that
may also be at work in pollination networks. More intriguingly, perhaps, researchers have also attempted to
link compartments to "pollination syndromes" or other traits that would indicate tightly-linked coevolution
among the plants and pollinators that make up a compartment.
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On the other hand, the typical definition of compartments is ill-suited for pollination networks since they are a
special type of network: a bipartite network. Therefore, while this definition has previously been employed,
the compartments that are ultimately obtained may not be an accurate reflection of the ecological or coevolutionary processes that have previously been highlighted. In order to better understand these
communities, it is therefore imperative that we compare the standard approach to a more appropriate
methodology in which we group plants on the basis of the similarity in the pollinators that visit them, and vice
versa.
In this project, the student will determine the compartments in published bipartite networks using both types
of methodologies to assess the validity of the two approaches. The student will then compare the different
sets of compartments to determine whether they provide completely redundant information or are instead
complementary. Lastly, the student will examine the way in which the many interactions within the community
increase or decrease the co-evolutionary signal therein, as well as how this relates to the core question of
compartmentalized network structure. In answering this question, the student will combine a fundamental
eco-evolutionary question with broad relevance with tools from computer programming and theoretical
ecology to comment on recent directions in pollination network research.
If the project involves work away from the University campus (e.g., at fieldwork sites) please detail all locations.
This project does not involve work away from the University campus.
If the student be required to work outside of normal university hours (8am-5pm) please provide details
The student will not be required to work outside of normal university hours.
Benefits student will gain from involvement in the project
Describe the research experience and skills that the student will acquire through involvement in this research project –
maximum of 100 words.
The project will provide the student an introduction to research in theoretical and computational ecology.
Though computational approaches in ecology, and in biology in general, are rapidly becoming more
common, many ecology or biology students do not graduate with the skills necessary for advanced study in
these fields.
This summer project will therefore provide a unique opportunity by exposing the student to cutting-edge
research in the field, while simultaneously allowing them to learn the fundamentals of programming. In
addition, the relevance of the project should allow the eventual publication of this research internationally.
Specific student requirements
Please provide details of all requirements you have for the student to work on this project – for example, if specific
courses/experience are necessary.
Students will be considered if they have completed 200 or 300 level courses in the College of Science or
College of Engineering. Prior programming experience is a plus but is not a requirement. Most importantly,
the students should be interested in pursuing research that uses theoretical approaches to answer
fundamental ecological questions.
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