QEIB: General Genetic Models of the Geographic Mosaic Theory of Coevolution

共同进化在塑造生物多样性、塑造生物群落结构以及推动相互作用物种之间的紧密共适应方面发挥着核心作用。在较短的生态时间尺度上，共同进化也会产生慢性适应不良并维持大量的遗传多态性。共同进化的地理镶嵌理论为共同进化过程的这些不同方面提供了一个统一的框架。该提案的总体目标是为该理论建立严格的理论支柱。这将通过应用最近开发的数学技术来实现，这些技术大大简化了复杂遗传系统的分析。拟议工作的更广泛影响是双重的。首先，这些模型将把先前开发的数学技术扩展到协同进化系统。其结果将是开发出新的、强大的分析工具，这些工具可以很容易地应用于协同进化生物学中的各种问题。通过在年会上公开展示技术以及出版电子 Mathematica 附录，将促进这种分析技术的传播。其次，拟议工作的培训部分将向两名研究生和一名本科生介绍这些新的数学技术以及其他计算和分析方法。该培训将直接有助于加强生物科学中分析和计算技术的整合。

Coevolution plays a central role in shaping biological diversity, molding the structure of biological communities, and driving tight coadaptation between interacting species. Over shorter ecological time scales coevolution also generates chronic maladaptation and maintains substantial levels of genetic polymorphism. The geographic mosaic theory of coevolution provides a unifying framework for these disparate aspects of the coevolutionary process. The overarching goal of this proposal is to develop a rigorous theoretical backbone for this theory. This will be achieved through the application of recently developed mathematical techniques that greatly simplify the analysis of complex genetic systems. The broader impacts of the proposed work are twofold. First, the models will extend previously developed mathematical techniques to coevolving systems. The result will be the development of new and powerful analytical tools that can be readily applied to a diverse array of problems in coevolutionary biology. The distribution of this analytical technology will be facilitated by public presentation of techniques at annual meetings, and by the publication of electronic Mathematica appendices. Second, the training component of the proposed work will introduce two graduate students and an undergraduate to these new mathematical techniques, as well as other computational and analytical approaches. This training will directly contribute to the increased integration of analytical and computational techniques in the biological sciences.