SGER: Genetic Correlations in a Sender-Receiver Communication System

一种被广泛提倡的生殖隔离进化机制涉及两性之间发送者/接收者通信系统的共同进化。本研究将验证两种同胞地蟋蟀——fasciatus Allonemobius和A. socius——的雄性鸣声和雌性择偶偏好在遗传上相关的假设。本研究将采用亲本-子代和全同胞定量遗传方法来评估雄性鸣叫声的种间和种内变异与雌性对雄性鸣叫声的偏好变异的相关程度。此外，雌性配偶偏好的遗传性（通过对雄性鸣叫的趋声性来衡量）将被估计。了解雌性偏好的遗传能力及其与雄性鸣叫声的遗传相关性，将有助于了解对过去、现在和未来选择压力的反应速度；更重要的是，基因变异的缺失可能会对配偶识别系统的进化构成根本性的限制。

A widely advocated mechanism for the evolution of reproductive isolation involves the co-evolution of sender/receiver communication systems between sexes. This study will test the hypothesis that male calling song and female mate preference are genetically correlated in the two sibling ground cricket species, Allonemobius fasciatus and A. socius. Parent- offspring and full sib quantitative genetic methods will be used to assess the degree to which inter-and intraspecific variation in male calling song is correlated to variation in female preference of a male's calling song. In addition, the heritability of female mate preference (as measured by phonotaxis to male calling songs) will be estimated. Knowledge of the heritability of female preference, and its genetic correlation with male calling song will provide insights concerning the speed of response to past, present and future selective pressures; more importantly, the absence of genetic variance could pose a fundamental constraint to the evolution of mate recognition systems.