The Genetic Basis of Alternative Maternal Tactics

这个项目的目的是检查Gargaphia solani表现出的几种不同母性行为的表达在多大程度上受到基因控制。它建立在这样一个事实上，即在同一动物种群中，具有相似功能的行为往往是如此不同，以至于一种反应可以被认为是其他反应的不同选择。决定行为选择是否源于个体之间的遗传或环境差异的因素只在少数情况下被理解。由于这些生物表现出不同寻常的母性行为，Gargaphia提供了一个模型系统来研究行为选择：在一个种群中，雌性要么保护自己的后代不受捕食者的伤害，要么在产卵后丢弃它们的卵，或者把它们的卵交给另一只雌性照顾和保护。此外，卵子接受者要么积极排斥卵子捐赠者，要么被动接受他们的卵子。这些和其他母性选择在G.solani中的存在为表征每个选择的表达受基因、环境条件或两者之间的某种交互作用的程度提供了机会。这个项目将通过半同胞分析、种群内和种群间比较以及人工选择来研究与倾倒鸡蛋和反捕食者攻击相关的行为选择的遗传成分。这些信息的整合将提供一个有价值的实验基础，在此基础上可以测试关于替代行为战术的进化、机制和生态的理论。

This project is designed to examine the degree to which the expression of several alternative maternal behaviors exhibited by Gargaphia solani, is under genetic control. It is founded upon the fact that within the same animal population, behaviors with similar functions are often so different that one response can be considered a distinct alternative to other responses. The factors determining whether behavioral alternatives stem from genetic or environmental differences among individuals are understood in only a few cases. Gargaphia provides a model system with which to examine behavioral alternatives because of the unusual maternal behaviors exhibited by these organisms: within a single populaton females either guard their offspring from predators, abandon their eggs after laying, or leave their eggs to the care and protection of another female. Furthermore, egg recipients either aggressively repel egg donors or passively accept their eggs. The existence of these and other maternal options in G. solani provides an opportunity to characterize the extent to which the expression of each alternative is regulated by genes, by environmental conditions, or by some interaction between the two. This project will examine the genetic component of behavioral alternatives associated with egg dumping and antipredator aggression by means of half-sib analyses, intra-and interpopulation comparisons, and artificial selection. Integration of this information will provide a valuable expansion of the experimental base upon which theories concerning the evolution, mechanisms, and ecology of alternative behavioral tactics can be tested.