Dissertation Research: Paving the Road from Ecological Circumstance to Evolutionary Result: An Investigation of the Dynamic Roles of Model and Mimic in a Classic Mimicry System

摘要防御性模仿系统通常分为两种类型：贝叶斯系统，包括一个无防御的模仿者和一个有防御的模型，或者缪勒系统，包括两个或更多有防御的协同模型。最近对模仿的理论研究预测，单个模仿系统的性质可能随时间和空间的变化而变化。在本研究中，研究人员结合了三种蝴蝶的物候和地理特征来评估两种著名的模仿系统的动态：总督/君主系统和总督/女王系统。虽然这些系统最初被归类为贝叶斯模仿，但越来越多的证据表明，总督通常不受鸟类捕食者的欢迎，而君主和女王的模型通常是可口的。因此，总督模仿复合体可以跨越连续体，模型和模仿者的角色随着空间和时间的变化而变化。本研究将记录三种蝴蝶的不适口性、化学防御的时空变化以及对脊椎动物和无脊椎动物捕食者的适口性变化。

AbstractDefensive mimicry systems are typically categorized into two types: Batesian, involving a defenseless mimic and a defended model, or Mullerian, involving two or more defended co-models. More recent theoretical treatments of mimicry predict that the nature of a single mimicry system may vary over space and time. In this proposal, the work incorporates both the phenology and the geography of three butterfly species to assess the dynamics of two well-known mimicry systems: the viceroy/monarch system and the viceroy/queen. While these systems were originally classified as Batesian mimicry, accumulating evidence suggests that the viceroy is often unpalatable to avian predators, while the models, the monarch and queen, can often be palatable. Thus, the viceroy mimicry complex may span the continuum with roles of model and mimic changing through space and time. This work will document the chemistry responsible for unpalatability, spatial and temporal variation in chemical defense of the three butterfly species, and variation in palatability to vertebrate and invertebrate predators.