Mechanisms of Indirect Selection

NSF提案# IBN-9407162，超声蚜蛾的间接性选择机制；共同检察官迈克尔·格林菲尔德和罗伯特·柯林斯。在许多动物中，性选择的基本过程包括雄性竞争和雌性选择。人们普遍认为，女性的选择可以包括对提供直接利益（如照顾后代）的伴侣的偏好，以及对通过向后代贡献基因提供间接利益的伴侣的偏好。最近，理论生物学家已经证实了几种不同的间接性选择模型是合理的。然而，实验证据和这些模型之间的区别是微不足道的。这种缺乏在很大程度上是因为研究性选择的许多物种无法进行受控实验，而这些实验需要检验各种模型背后的假设。在当前的项目中，我们将通过研究一种可以在实验室中观察和饲养的不寻常的pyralymoth， Achroia grisella的雌性选择来克服这些先前的困难。稻瘟病菌的雌性选择是通过一种间接机制进行的——基于雄性超声波信号的选择。我们将采用多种育种实验来研究雄性信号特征的遗传能力以及雌性对这些特征的偏好。与首选雄性交配的雌性后代的总体生存能力也将被注意到。我们的研究结果将为以下两种假设提供评估：(1)女性的间接选择是基于与总体生存能力无关的遗传属性；(2)所选择的遗传属性与配偶和后代的生存能力有关。对灰孢杆菌的研究也将增加我们对超声波信号和感知的基本理解，并可能导致改进这种（及相关）蜜蜂种群害虫的控制策略。

NSF proposal # IBN-9407162, Mechanisms of indirect sexual selection in an ultrasonic pyralid moth; Co-PIs Michael D. Greenfield and Robert D. Collins. Non-technical summary In many animals the basic processes of sexual selection include male male competition and female choice. It is generally believed that female choice can involve preferences for mates who provide direct benefits such as care of offspring and preferences for mates who provide indirect benefits via the genes that they contribute toward the offspring. Recently, theoretical biologists have confirmed that several different models of indirect sexual selection are plausible. However, experimental evidence for, and distinctions between, these models are meager. This paucity largely exists because many of the species in which sexual selection is studied are not amenable to the controlled experiments needed to test assumptions underlying the various models. In the current project we will overcome these previous difficulties by studying female choice in an unusual pyralid moth, Achroia grisella, that can be observed and raised in the laboratory. Female choice in A. grisella occurs via an indirect mechanism - selection based on male ultrasonic signals. We will employ a variety of breeding experiments to study the heritabilities of male signaling characteristics and of female preferences for these characteristics. The general viability of offspring of females who mate with preferred males will also be noted. Our findings will provide assessments of the alternative hypotheses (1) that indirect female choice is arbitrarily based on genetic attributes which are unrelated to general viability and (2) that the genetic attributes chosen are related to mate and offspring viability. Study of A. grisella will also increase our fundamental understanding of ultrasonic signaling and perception, and it may lead to improved control strategies of this (and related) species, a pest of honeybee colonies.