Testing the Aerobic Capacity Model for the Evolution of Endothermy with Correlational Artificial Selection

用相关人工选择测试恒温动物进化的有氧能力模型杰克·P·海耶斯内华达州里诺大学脊椎动物进化中最重要的事件之一是恒温动物的进化（即，动物将其体温升高到周围环境温度以上的生理能力）。 有氧能力模型试图通过假设内温性进化为对有氧能力（运动期间最大耗氧量）的自然选择的相关反应来解释内温性的进化。该模型的一个关键假设是，静息代谢和有氧能力是正相关的，因为它们是不可避免的，机械联系。到目前为止，还没有研究证明这一假设是错误的，因此该模型是对恒温动物进化的一个可行的解释。 拟议的研究将使用人工选择（育种实验）来测试有氧能力模型的关键假设。 将使用两种类型的人工选择。 第一种是有氧能力的人工选择。 这种选择将产生具有低有氧能力的小鼠品系和具有高有氧能力的小鼠品系。 如果选择增加有氧能力产生无反应或减少静息代谢，有氧能力模型将被证伪。 第二种类型的人工选择旨在直接和实验性地测试模型的关键假设（即，静息代谢和有氧代谢之间的正相关性是表征陆生脊椎动物生理学的基本设计约束）。 将使用人工选择来尝试产生静息代谢和有氧能力之间存在负相关的小鼠品系。 如果负相关可以产生，那么有氧能力模型将被证伪。 将研究所有选定品系小鼠的生物化学、解剖学和生理学，以帮助阐明有氧能力的机制基础。 这些研究应该引起生态和进化生理学家、运动生理学家和进化生物学家的兴趣。 这些研究的更广泛影响将是三方面的。 首先，实验将开发遗传资源（小鼠品系），可用作研究有氧能力遗传和机制基础的模型。第二，将为一名或多名博士后研究人员、研究生和本科生提供多样化的培训。 第三，在PI帮助开发的现有项目的基础上，PI将尝试招募当地高中科学教师和学生参与研究并进行相关研究。

Testing the Aerobic Capacity Model for the Evolution of Endothermy with Correlational Artificial SelectionJack P. HayesUniversity of Nevada RenoOne of the most important events in vertebrate evolution was the evolution of endothermy (i.e., the physiological ability of animals to raise their body temperature above the ambient environmental temperature). The aerobic capacity model attempts to explain the evolution of endothermy by hypothesizing that endothermy evolved as a correlated response to natural selection on aerobic capacity (maximal oxygen consumption during exercise). A key assumption of the model is that resting metabolism and aerobic capacity are positively correlated because they are inescapably, mechanistically linked. To date no study has falsified this assumption, so the model stands as a viable explanation for the evolution of endothermy. The proposed studies will use artificial selection (breeding experiments) to test the key assumption of the aerobic capacity model. Two types of artificial selection will be used. The first will be artificial selection on aerobic capacity. This selection will produce lines of mice with low aerobic capacity and lines of mice with high aerobic capacity. If selection for increased aerobic capacity produces no response or a decrease in resting metabolism, the aerobic capacity model will be falsified. The second type of artificial selection is designed to directly and experimentally test the model's key assumption (i.e., that a positive correlation between resting metabolism and aerobic metabolism is a fundamental design constraint that characterizes the physiology of terrestrial vertebrates). Artificial selection will be used in an attempt to generate lines of mice for which there is a negative correlation between resting metabolism and aerobic capacity. If a negative correlation can be produced, then the aerobic capacity model will be falsified. The biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology of all the selected lines of mice will be studied to help elucidate the mechanistic basis for aerobic capacity. These studies should be of interest to ecological and evolutionary physiologists, exercise physiologists, and evolutionary biologists. Broader impacts of the studies will be three-fold. First, the experiments will develop genetic resources (lines of mice) that can be used as models for studying the genetic and mechanistic bases of aerobic capacity. Second, diverse training will be provided to one or more postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates. Third, building on an existing program that the PI helped develop, the PI will attempt to recruit local high school science teachers and students to participate in the research and to pursue related studies.