DISSERTATION RESEARCH: From Individuals to Populations: Female Decisions and Group Size Variation in Barn Swallows

从个体到群体：家燕的雌性决策和群体大小变异摘要利用实验收集的家燕个体栖息地和配偶选择决策的信息来模拟群体大小变异的群体水平模式，本研究为研究群体繁殖的原因和后果提供了一个新的视角。在2002年的一次野外实验中，收集了必要的样本，以评估个体质量、羽毛颜色和不同群体中雌性的社会和遗传择偶之间的关系。要求提供资金，利用五个多态微卫星位点的变异进行遗传亲子关系分析。这些数据将（1）提供关于社会和遗传择偶之间的差异以及这些差异是否随群体大小而变化的信息;（2）对于基于代理的模型的择偶规则的参数化是必要的;（3）还将增加我们对密度对女性择偶决定的影响的知识，这种关系只有一次被实验检验，并且对性选择有潜在的巨大影响。此外，基因型数据将用于康奈尔大学本科生的独立荣誉论文，DNA样本将存放在康奈尔鸟类学实验室的遗传学设施中，并广泛提供给其他研究人员。

FROM INDIVIDUALS TO POPULATIONS:FEMALE DECISIONS AND GROUP SIZE VARIATION IN BARN SWALLOWSPROJECT SUMMARYUsing information gathered experimentally on the individual habitat- and mate-selectiondecisions of barn swallows to model population-level patterns of group size variation, this studyoffers a new perspective for examining the causes and consequences of group breeding. Thesamples necessary to evaluate the relationship between a known signal of individual quality,feather coloration, and the social and genetic mate choice of females across different groupsizes were collected during a field experiment in 2002. Funds are requested to conduct geneticparentage analyses using variation in five polymorphic microsatellite loci. These data will (1)provide information about the differences between social and genetic mates selection andwhether these vary with group size; (2) are necessary to parameterize the mate selection rulesfor an agent-based model; and (3) will also add to our knowledge of the effects of density onfemale mate choice decisions, a relationship that has only once been examined experimentallyand has potentially large impacts on sexual selection. Additionally, the genotype data will beused for the independent honor's thesis of a Cornell undergraduate and the DNA samples willbe deposited in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Genetics Facility and made widely available toother researchers.