Whole-animal Physiological Performance: Natural Selection and Phenotypic Plasticity

整个动物的生理表现：自然选择和表型可塑性

• 批准号: 9410693
• 负责人: Jack Hayes
• 金额: $ 22.17万
• 依托单位: Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing 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=9410693&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Whole; animal; Physiological; Performance; Natural

9410693 Hayes The physiological functions of animals (e.g., their ability to produce heat in cold environments or sprint away from predators)are widely thought to impact their ecology and evolution. Despite this widespread belief, differences among individual animals of the same species rarely have been shown to affect their survival and reproduction. Data on whether individual differences in physiology affect survival and reproduction are essential to understanding the evolution of organismal function (i.e., physiological traits of organisms). Hence, the effects of whole animal physiological performance on survival and reproduction will be studied in a high altitude (3800m) population of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). These mice are particularly suitable for study because their physiology is well known and because the extreme cold and low oxygen availability they experience at high altitude makes it likely that natural selection on their physiological running performance occurs. Survival, reproduction, ability to produce heat in the cold, and sprint running performance of individual mice will be measured. Because physiological functions may vary substantially with the environment encountered (i.e., are plastic or flexible), it is usually unclear whether physiological differences among individual animals are genetic or environmental in nature. Previous studies indicate that differences in the heat producing capacity of high- and low- altitude deer mice are genetically based. However, the effects of the developmental environment on the ability of deer mice to respond to subsequent environmental change are poorly understood. This information is critical to understanding the relative importance of genetic versus environmental effects in coping with environmental change. The effects of developmental environments will be studied by comparing physiological performance of siblings raised at high versus low altitude. Ultimately, the proposed research will lea d to a better understanding of the relative importance of genetic variation versus physiological plasticity in coping with environmental stressors, will provide insight into developmental constraints on mammalian lung function, and will elucidate whether the broadly held belief that individual variation in physiological performance has ecological and evolutionary significance is valid. ***

小行星9410693 动物的生理功能（例如，它们在寒冷环境中产生热量或逃离捕食者的能力）被广泛认为会影响它们的生态和进化。尽管这种普遍的信念，同一物种的个体动物之间的差异很少被证明会影响它们的生存和繁殖。 关于生理学上的个体差异是否影响生存和繁殖的数据对于理解生物体功能的进化是必不可少的（即，生物体的生理特性）。因此，在高海拔（3800 m）的鹿鼠种群中，研究了动物整体生理性能对生存和繁殖的影响。这些小鼠特别适合于研究，因为它们的生理学是众所周知的，并且因为它们在高海拔地区经历的极端寒冷和低氧可用性使得它们的生理跑步表现可能发生自然选择。将测量个体小鼠的存活、繁殖、在寒冷中产生热量的能力和短跑表现。 因为生理功能可能随着所遇到的环境而显著变化（即，由于动物是可塑性的或可弯曲的），通常不清楚个体动物之间的生理差异是遗传的还是环境的。先前的研究表明，高海拔和低海拔鹿鼠产热能力的差异是基于遗传的。 然而，发育环境对鹿鼠对随后环境变化的反应能力的影响知之甚少。这些信息对于理解遗传效应与环境效应在应对环境变化方面的相对重要性至关重要。 将通过比较在高海拔和低海拔地区长大的兄弟姐妹的生理表现来研究发育环境的影响。最终，拟议中的研究将莱亚D更好地理解的相对重要性，遗传变异与生理可塑性在应对环境压力，将提供深入了解哺乳动物肺功能的发育限制，并将阐明是否广泛持有的信念，即个体的生理表现的变化具有生态和进化意义是有效的。 ***