DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Evolution of Late-Life Fecundity

这个提议的目的是测试晚期生命的一般理论--包括进化论和非进化论--使用繁殖力。到目前为止，根据进化理论，生育力已被证明在生命后期趋于稳定并逐渐退化。其他的非进化假说还不能令人满意地解释这些结果，因为晚年生殖力的稳定期并不是由雄性性功能、营养作用或死亡率的下降引起的。拟议中的实验将专门用黑腹果蝇来检验晚年的异质性和拮抗性多效性理论。生殖力的异质性将通过在一个大的群体中测量个体的一生生殖力，并比较存活到生殖力高原的雌性与未存活到生殖力高原的雌性的生殖力模式来测试。晚期生殖力和早期适应性之间的拮抗多效性将通过25代早期生殖的选择来测试。其次是早期繁殖的队列和原始的晚期繁殖的队列之间的晚年生育力的比较。

The objective of this proposal is to test general theories of late life - both evolutionary andnon-evolutionary - using fecundity. Thus far, fecundity has been shown to plateau late in life andevolve according to evolutionary theory. Alternative non-evolutionary hypotheses have not beenable to satisfactorily explain these results, as late-life fecundity plateaus do not arise fromdiminished male sexual function, nutritional effects, or mortality-rate plateaus.The proposed experiments will specifically test the heterogeneity and antagonisticpleiotropy theories of late life, using Drosophila melanogaster. Heterogeneity in fecundity willbe tested by measuring lifetime individual fecundity within a large cohort and comparingfecundity patterns of females that survive to the fecundity plateau with those that do not.Antagonistic pleiotropy between late-life fecundity and early fitness will be tested using 25generations of selection for earlier reproduction, followed by a comparison of late-life fecunditybetween the early-reproducing cohorts and the original later-reproducing cohorts.