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

摘要防御拟态系统通常分为两类：巴特式的，涉及无防御的拟态和防御模型，或穆勒式的，涉及两个或多个防御性的联合模型。最近对模仿的理论研究表明，单个模仿系统的性质可能会随着空间和时间的不同而变化。在这项建议中，这项工作结合了三种蝴蝶物种的物候和地理信息，以评估两个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巴特式的模仿，但越来越多的证据表明，总督往往不受鸟类捕食者的欢迎，而君主和女王的模型往往是令人满意的。因此，总督模仿情结可以跨越连续体，扮演模范和模仿角色，随着时间和空间的变化而变化。这项工作将记录导致这三种蝴蝶不适口性的化学原因，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适口性的变化。

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.