Direct and Indirect Genetic Effects of Parental Care

非技术性摘要建议编号：9808629PI：Rauter，Claudia标题：父母照料的直接和间接遗传影响父母照料，即父母一方或双方提供资源或保护子女的做法，在几乎所有的动物税中都很普遍。在行为生态学中，有大量关于父母照顾行为的重要性和后果的文献。并不是所有的人都以同样的方式照顾父母。一个物种中个体间父母照顾行为差异的环境原因已被广泛研究。然而，对父母照料行为中这种差异的遗传成分的研究较少。这项研究将提供关于遗传效应在多大程度上导致埋葬甲虫父母照料差异的经验数据。这些数据将允许估计父母照料的进化性；即，它们将提供关于这种甲虫物种父母照料行为可能发生的进化变化的程度的信息。此外，这些数据将提供可能与行为变量相关的性状的遗传影响信息，如形态、生理和生活史特征。这种遗传相关性可以反映特征的功能组，并将提供对与父母照顾相关的任何特征的洞察，而不是行为。这项研究将有助于我们理解父母照顾的演变，以及为什么父母照顾在一个物种中的个体之间可能会有所不同。

NONTECHNICAL ABSTRACTProposal Number: 9808629PI: Rauter, Claudia Title: Direct and Indirect Genetic Effects of Parental CareParental care, where either one or both parents provide resources or protection of their offspring, is widespread among nearly all animal tax. There is a large literature within behavioral ecology on the importance and consequences of parental care behavior. Not all individuals perform parental care in the same way. Environmental causes of differences in parental care behavior among individuals in a species have been extensively studied. However, less well studied are genetic components of such variation in parental care behavior. This research will provide empirical data on the extent to which genetic effects are responsible for variation in parental care in a burying beetle, Nicrophorus oricollis. These data will permit estimation of evolvability of parental care; i.e. they will provide information on the extent of evolutionary change that is possible in parental care behavior in this beetle species. Further these data will provide information genetic influences on traits that may be correlated with the behavioral variables, such as morphological, physiological and life historical characters. Such genetic correlations can reflect functional groups of traits and will provide insights into any traits, other than behavior, associated with parental care. The research will foster our understanding of the evolution of parental care and why parental care may vary among individuals in a species.