Options in a Variable Social System

可变社会系统中的选择

• 批准号: 9507365
• 负责人: Janis Dickinson
• 金额: $ 18.88万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1995
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1995-08-15 至 1999-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9507365&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Options; Variable; Social; System

Dickinson, Janis IBN-9507365 Abstract Options in a variable social system Western bluebirds, in most cases, are monogamous, pair for life, and the male and female share equally in feeding offspring. However, several observations suggest that breeding opportunities are limited for males. Some males don't breed, but instead help feed nestlings at their parents' nests. Others fill vacancies at nests of widowed females and care for young that were presumably sired by the female's former mate; the presumed benefit of this apparent altruism is the opportunity to breed with the female the next time around. Superimposed on this variation in the reproductive options of males, breeding males vary in the extent to which they fertilize eggs of their social mates; DNA fingerprinting has revealed that over one-third of nests have at least one offspring that is not sired by the caregiving male. Dr. Dickinson will use single-locus fingerprinting techniques and field experiments to discover the processes underlying extrapair fertilization and to measure accurately the fitness consequences for breeders, helpers, and adoptive males. Through large-scale genotyping of the population using mini- and micro-satellite DNA fingerprinting techniques, she will characterize males successful in fertilization. Understanding the unusual array of alternative reproductive behaviors in this species will provide substantial insights into the evolution of monogamy, biparental care, and cooperative breeding. Dr. Dickinson will train three undergraduate or recently graduated biology majors in field ornithology. In the past, a high proportion of trainees have gone on to other jobs in field biology or, in most cases, graduate programs in animal behavior or ornithology. The results of these basic studies are likely to yield significant information concerning the population and conservation biology of avian species.

在多变的社会制度下的选择西方蓝鸟，在大多数情况下，是一夫一妻制的，终生配对，雄性和雌性平等地分担哺育后代的责任。然而，一些观察表明，雄性的繁殖机会有限。一些雄性不繁殖，而是帮助喂养父母巢穴中的雏鸟。另一些则填补了丧偶雌性巢穴的空缺，照顾可能是由雌性前配偶所生的后代；这种明显的利他主义的好处是有机会在下一次与雌性交配。加上雄性生殖选择的差异，有繁殖能力的雄性使其社会伴侣的卵子受精的程度也有所不同；DNA指纹图谱显示，超过三分之一的巢穴至少有一个后代不是由照顾它的雄性所生。Dickinson博士将使用单位点指纹识别技术和实地实验来发现潜在的对外受精过程，并准确测量繁殖者、帮助者和被收养雄性的适应性结果。通过使用微型和微型卫星DNA指纹技术对种群进行大规模基因分型，她将描述成功受精的雄性。了解这个物种中不同寻常的生殖行为将为一夫一妻制、双亲抚养和合作繁殖的进化提供实质性的见解。迪金森博士将培养三名本科或刚毕业的生物学专业学生从事野外鸟类学研究。在过去，很大比例的受训者会继续从事野外生物学的其他工作，或者在大多数情况下，从事动物行为学或鸟类学的研究生课程。这些基础研究的结果可能会产生有关鸟类种群和保护生物学的重要信息。