Investigator’s Annual Reports (IAR’s) for Crater Lake National Park

Patterns and consequences of insect herbivory in Lupinus lepidus at Crater Lake National Park

 

Report Number: 32344

Permit Number: CRLA-2004-SCI-0001

Current Status: Checked in

Date Received: Apr 01, 2005

Reporting Year: 2004

Principal Investigator: Dr Jennifer Apple, Willamette University, Biology Department, Salem, OR

Additional investigator(s): John G. Bishop

Park-assigned Study Id. #: CRLA-03031

Permit Expiration Date: Apr 30, 2006

Permit Start Date: Apr 01, 2004

Study Starting Date: Apr 01, 2004

Study Ending Date: Dec 31, 2008

Study Status: Suspended

Activity Type: Research

Subject/Discipline: Ecology (Aquatic, Marine, Terrestrial)

Objectives: For over 10 years at Mount St. Helens, researchers have documented heavy and spatially structured herbivory on Lupinus lepidus plants that have colonized the barren pumice flats that resulted from the 1980 eruption. L. lepidus can be found throughout the Cascade Range, but usually at much higher elevations and in more stable alpine communities than exist at Mount St. Helens. The insect herbivores of L. lepidus have never been studied in its typical nonsuccessional habitat, though they are known to occur at Crater Lake National Park, Mount Hood, and Mount Rainier. This project is designed to both characterize the relationship between Lupinus lepidus and its insect herbivores throughout Crater Lake National Park, and to compare this interaction to that observed in the relatively young plant community that exists at Mount St. Helens. Our study has three main objectives: (1) To determine the prevalence of insect herbivory on Lupinus lepidus at Crater Lake and assess the impact of herbivore damage on plant fitness; (2) To characterize any variation in lupine-herbivore interactions across different habitats and vegetative associations throughout Crater Lake National Park; (3) To assess the genetic similarity among insect herbivore populations at Crater Lake, Mount St. Helens, and other locations throughout the Cascades and to infer their history of colonization of different lupine patches. Studying these interactions over widely separated locations and varied habitats may identify factors that determine the strength of the effects of herbivores on lupines, perhaps explaining the dramatic impacts that we observe at Mount St. Helens. Furthermore, our work may provide insight into the history of particular insect-lupine interactions and illuminate patterns in the colonization of new lupine populations (such as that at Mount St. Helens or in other primary successional settings) by their insect herbivores.

Findings and Status: No activity was conducted this report year.

For this study, were one or more specimens collected and removed from the park but not destroyed during analyses? No

Funding provided this reporting year by NPS: 0

Funding provided this reporting year by other sources: 0

Full name of college or university: n/a

Annual funding provided by NPS to university or college this reporting year: 0

 

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