Effects of Adult Behavior on Larval Survivorship of a Major Predator of Tropical Mosquitos

成虫行为对热带蚊子主要捕食者幼虫存活的影响

• 批准号: 9408143
• 负责人: Ola Fincke
• 金额: $ 14.43万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-09-01 至 1998-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9408143&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Effects; Adult; Behavior; Larval; Survivorship

9408143 Fincke Abstract A major assumption in biology is that over evolutionary time, males that obtain the greatest number of matings (i.e., fertilizations) make the greatest contribution to the next generation. In contrast, females are thought to be limited, not by the number of matings they obtain, but by the number of eggs or embryos they can physically produce. These basic assumptions have rarely been tested for animals that do not have parental care (i.e., the majority of species) because it is usually impossible to follow the survivorship of offspring of known parents under natural conditions. In the New World tropics, males of an unusual damselfly defend water-filled tree holes where females lay their eggs. The offspring of known adults will be determined using a DNA- fingerprinting technique. Survivorship of offspring to emergence (adulthood) will be measured for all males and females using a given tree hole. Although mosquito larvae are the major source of food for larval damselflies, larger damselflies readily cannibalize smaller ones. Females lay many more eggs in a given hole than the number of individuals that emerge there. Experiments are designed to determine whether a female that lays an excess of eggs in one hole, thereby promoting cannibalism among sibs, produces larger or faster-developing offspring than a female that lays a few eggs in many holes. Other experiments test whether or not an adult male stops defending a particular hole once the chances of cannibalism of younger offspring by older siblings become high. Dr. Fincke's research will determine the extent to which male and female behavior has been shaped by evolution to produce few, high-quality offspring at the expense of producing numerous offspring. Because this damselfly is the major predator of forest mosquito larvae, the research is directly relevant to understanding the biological control mechanisms of several mosquito species that are vectors of human diseases in the New World tropics.

小行星9408143 摘要 生物学中的一个主要假设是，在进化过程中，获得最多交配次数的雄性（即，（2）对下一代的贡献最大。 与此相反，雌性被认为是有限的，不是由它们获得的交配数量，而是由它们可以产生的卵子或胚胎的数量。 这些基本假设很少在没有父母照顾的动物（即，大多数物种），因为在自然条件下，通常不可能跟踪已知亲本的后代的存活情况。 在新大陆的热带地区，一种不寻常的豆娘的雄性保卫着充满水的树洞，雌性在那里产卵。 已知成虫的后代将使用DNA指纹技术来确定。 将使用给定的树洞测量所有雄性和雌性的后代存活至羽化（成年）。 虽然蚊子幼虫是豆娘幼虫的主要食物来源，但较大的豆娘很容易吃掉较小的豆娘。 雌性在一个特定的洞里产下的蛋比在那里出现的个体数量要多得多。 实验的目的是确定一个雌性在一个洞里产下过多的卵，从而促进兄弟姐妹之间的同类相食，是否比一个雌性在许多洞里产下少量卵的后代更大或发育更快。 其他的实验测试了一旦年长的兄弟姐妹吃掉年幼的后代的可能性变高，一只成年雄性是否会停止捍卫一个特定的洞。 Fincke博士的研究将确定进化在多大程度上塑造了男性和女性的行为，以产生大量后代为代价产生少数高质量的后代。 由于这种豆娘是森林蚊子幼虫的主要捕食者，因此这项研究与了解新世界热带地区几种人类疾病媒介蚊子的生物控制机制直接相关。