Mechanisms of Indirect Selection

美国国家科学基金会提案编号IBN-9407162，超声波螟蛾的间接性选择机制;格林菲尔德和罗伯特D.柯林斯。 非技术性总结 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。 一般认为，女性的选择可能涉及对提供直接利益（如照顾后代）的配偶的偏好，以及对通过基因提供间接利益的配偶的偏好。 最近，理论生物学家已经证实，间接性选择的几种不同模型是合理的。 然而，这些模型的实验证据和它们之间的区别是微不足道的。 这种缺乏在很大程度上是因为许多研究性选择的物种不适合于测试各种模型所依据的假设所需的受控实验。 在目前的项目中，我们将克服这些以前的困难，研究女性的选择在一个不寻常的梨形蛾，Achroia grisella，可以观察到，并提出在实验室。 女性选择A。grisella通过一种间接机制发生--基于雄性超声波信号的选择。 我们将采用各种育种实验来研究雄性信号特征和雌性对这些特征的偏好的遗传性。还将记录与首选雄性交配的雌性后代的一般生存能力。 我们的研究结果将提供替代假设的评估（1），间接女性的选择是任意的遗传属性是无关的一般生存能力和（2）选择的遗传属性与配偶和后代的生存能力。研究A. grisella也将增加我们对超声波信号和感知的基本理解，它可能会导致改进对这种（和相关）物种的控制策略，这是蜂群的一种害虫。

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.