Egg Competition and Cryptic Male Choice in a Pipefish

管鱼的卵子竞争和雄性的隐性选择：分子生物学和动物行为之间日益增长的协同作用为行为生态学的研究打开了新的大门。特别是，遗传标记有很大的潜力提供精子竞争和隐性女性选择的见解，这是一个过程，通过雌性影响精子的命运在其生殖道。这些过程很重要，因为我们对交配模式的解释取决于交配后精子和卵子水平上发生的事件的细节。这个项目旨在帮助我们了解神秘配子选择的重要现象。配子大且容易观察的系统消除了研究配子竞争的许多障碍，而宽鼻管鱼（Syngnathus typhle）提供了这样一个系统，雄性在其中怀孕。这个项目将解决两个主要问题。首先，蛋的竞争或选择是管鱼交配成功的主要原因吗？第二，卵子竞争的结果主要由雄性还是雌性决定？这些研究在经过充分测试的遗传标记和基于实验室的育种实验的推动下，将最终确定隐性雄性选择是否是该物种的重要机制。

Lay summary for proposal number 0315937Egg competition and cryptic male choice in a pipefish: The growing synergy between molecular biology and animal behavior has opened new doors in the study of behavioral ecology. In particular, genetic markers have great potential to provide insights into sperm competition and cryptic female choice, a process by which females affect the fate of sperm within their reproductive tracts. These processes are important, because our interpretation of patterns of mating depends upon the details of events that happen at the level of sperm and eggs after mating. This project is designed to contribute to our knowledge of the important phenomenon of cryptic gamete choice. A system in which gametes are large and easily observable eliminates many of the barriers to progress in the study of gamete competition, and the broad-nosed pipefish, Syngnathus typhle, in which males become pregnant, provides such a system. This project will address two major questions. First, is egg competition or choice a major source of variation in success during mating in pipefish? Second, is the outcome of egg competition determined primarily by males or females? These studies, facilitated by well-tested genetic markers and laboratory-based breeding experiments, will definitively resolve whether or not cryptic male choice appears to be an important mechanism in this species.