Ecology and Behavior of Darwin's Finches on the Galapagos Islands

加拉帕戈斯群岛达尔文雀的生态和行为

• 批准号: 8917279
• 负责人: Peter Grant
• 金额: $ 19万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1990
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1990-03-15 至 1992-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8917279&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Ecology; Behavior; Darwin; Finches; Galapagos

Small and isolated populations are of interest to biologists because they have the potential to become new species. In the absence of human intervention their evolutionary and ecological fates are determined by their genetic variation, and this in turn is governed by their breeding structure. The proposed research will examine the breeding structure of two small populations of Darwin's Finches on one of the Galapagos Islands. Darwin's Finches are unusually suitable for this investigation because they live in undisturbed environments, and their evolution has been well studied. The two chosen populations are Geospiza fortis and G. scandens. Their residency on the island of Daphne Major and their tameness has allowed the establishment of pedigrees; and by extending these pedigrees and following the fates of known individuals by observation, the PI's will establish the circumstances and frequencies of inbreeding and of hybridization, and the fitness consequences of both. Small populations like these Darwin's Finches are of interest to conservation biologists because they are liable to become extinct. Results of this study will have potential applications to the conservation and management of small and endangered populations of animals elsewhere. Demographic and genetic consequences of small population sizes are increasingly being incorporated into the modeling of extinction-prone populations in order to identify vulnerable components of life histories on the one hand, and long-term, minimum, viable population sizes on the other. The study populations are small and fluctuate in numbers. With this study their genetic structure will be understood. Understanding the dynamics of such populations under natural conditions is essential if we are to reliably assess the future course of other populations which are subjected to disturbances.

小而孤立的种群引起了生物学家的兴趣 因为它们有潜力成为新物种。 在 没有人类的干预，它们的进化和生态 它们的命运是由遗传变异决定的， 是由它们的繁殖结构决定的 拟议研究 将研究两个小种群的繁殖结构， 加拉帕戈斯群岛上的达尔文雀。 达尔文的 雀鸟异常适合这项调查，因为 它们生活在不受干扰的环境中，它们的进化 已经被很好地研究过了。 两个被选中的种群是Geospiza fortis和G.攀缘植物 他们在达芙妮岛的居住地 少校和他们的驯服使得建立 血统;并通过扩展这些血统和遵循 通过观察已知个体的命运，PI的意志 确定近亲繁殖的情况和频率， 杂交，以及两者的适应性后果。 像这些达尔文雀这样的小种群 保护生物学家的兴趣，因为他们可能会 灭绝了 这项研究的结果将有可能 应用于养护和管理小型和 其他地方的濒危动物。 人口和 小种群规模的遗传后果越来越严重， 被纳入到模型中， 以确定生活中的脆弱组成部分 一方面是历史，另一方面是长期的、最低限度的、可行的 另一方面是人口规模。 研究人群很小 并且在数量上波动。 通过这项研究， 结构将被理解。了解这种动态 在自然条件下，如果我们要 可靠地评估其他人口的未来进程， 受到干扰。