Ecological Factors and Behavioral Mechanisms Underlying Selection

本文将采用半自然条件下的实地调查和实验相结合的方法，研究在存在雄性-雌性性冲突的系统中，交配行为的生态决定因素和选择后果。研究的焦点系统是一种半水生昆虫，溪流水黾，宝瓶。这个物种表现出非常明显的雌雄冲突：雄性不断地试图与雌性交配，而雌性几乎总是抵制雄性的交配尝试。先前的实验工作表明，各种生物和生态因素（捕食风险、食物可得性、密度、性别比例）对交配模式（交配活动、交配频率、交配持续时间、非随机交配的大小）有重大影响，这些影响在很大程度上取决于这些因素对雌性对雄性交配尝试的抵抗模式（即雄性-雌性冲突中的雌性行为）的影响。拟议的研究从三个方面扩展了现有的知识：1。这项研究将使我们更接近于充分理解生态条件（生物和非生物）的时空变化如何影响交配动态和性选择的总体模式。2. 这项研究将提供一个罕见的实验测试，基于已知的行为机制（在这种情况下，雄性-雌性冲突）和生态条件对这些行为的影响来预测性选择的变化。3. 自然选择的研究将在半自然条件下行为的机械实验研究和自然中这些行为机制的影响之间提供一座桥梁。总而言之，1)性选择的模式（通过现代统计方法量化）将通过使用行为信息（男性-女性冲突）来解释，这是性选择的基础；2)男性和女性的行为a（以及性选择的模式）反过来将被理解为对生物和非生物生态条件变化的灵活反应。总的来说，从三个令人兴奋的领域（男女冲突，性和自然选择的定量研究，以及交配系统的生态学）的概念和信息的整合应该为我们在这三个领域的知识增加重要的见解，从而增加我们对生殖行为的总体理解。

Abstract Sih 9514142 A blend of field surveys and experiments in semi-natural conditions will be used to examine the ecological determinants and selective consequences of mating behavior in a system with male-female sexual conflict. The focal system studied is a semi-aquatic insect, the stream water strider, Aquarius remigis. This species shows very clear male-female conflict: males continually attempt to mate with females, while females almost always resist male mating attempts. Previous experimental work showed that various biotic, ecological factors (predation risk, food availability, density, sex ratio) have major impacts on mating patterns (mating activity, mating frequency, mating duration, non-random mating by size) and that these effects depend largely on the influence of these factors on patterns of female resistance to male mating attempts (i.e., on female behavior in the male-female conflict). The proposed studies expand on current knowledge in three ways: 1. This study will move us significantly closer to a full understanding of how spatial and temporal variation in ecological conditions (both biotic and abiotic) influence both variation in mating dynamics and overall patterns of sexual selection. 2. This study will provide a rare instance of an experimental test of predictions on variation in sexual selection based on known behavioral mechanisms (in this case, male-female conflict) and the effects of ecological conditions on these behaviors. 3. Studies of selection in nature will provide a bridge between mechanistic experimental studies of behavior in semi- natural conditions and effects of these behavioral mechanisms in nature. In sum, 1) patterns of sexual selection (as quantified by modern statistical methods) will be explained mechanistically by using information on behaviors (male- female conflict) that underlie sexual selection, and 2) male and female behavior a(and thus patterns of sexual selection), in turn, will be understood as flexible responses to variation in both biotic and abiotic, ecological conditions. Overall, the integration of concepts and information from three exciting fields (male-female conflict, quantitative studies of sexual and natural selection, and ecology of mating systems) should add significant insights to our knowledge in all three fields and thus add to our general understanding of reproductive behavior.