Behavioral and Population Ecology of Coral Reef Fishes

该项目涉及加勒比蓝头濑鱼，双头海鱼。它有两个主要目标：通过实验操作，它将调查自然选择和男性特征之间的因果关系，之前的相关研究表明这是重要的。其他研究假设特定的特征传达适合度，但没有通过实验建立因果关系。本节的实验代表了首次全面的实地调查，探讨了表达交配偏好对雌性的直接适应性影响。通过一系列连续的移除和替换珊瑚礁上的雄性，雌性将反复面临在雄性中做出选择的挑战，这些雄性在配偶选择中具有高度可变的特征。由此，人们可以估计雌性配偶选择的一致性和可变性，以及在生殖力、受精率和生长方面表达选择的后果，还可以确定利益的来源（雄性或雌性）。这些结果在梳理交配偏好进化的不同解释方面具有重要的应用价值。

This project involves the Caribbean bluehead wrasse, Thalassoma bifasciatum. It has two major objectives: Through experimental manipulation, it will investigate the causal relationship between natural selection and male features that prior correlation studies have suggested to be important. Other investigations have assumed that particular features convey fitness, but have not established the causal connection through experimentation. The experiments in this section represent the first comprehensive field investigation into the direct fitness consequences to females for expressing a mating preference. Through a series of successive removals and replacements of males on a reef, females will be repeatedly challenged to make choices among males who are highly variable in a feature shown to be important in mate choice. From this, one can estimate consistency and variability of mate choice among females, the consequences of expressing a choice in terms of fecundity, fertilization rate, and growth, and also identify the source of the benefit (male or female). The results have important applications in sorting through alternative explanations for the evolution of mating preferences.