CAREER: Performance and Fitness Consequences of Insect Ornaments

职业生涯：昆虫装饰品的性能和健身效果John G.南达科他州的斯沃洛沃大学性选择是动物形态多样性的主要原因，并且通常以雄性观赏性展示的形式表现出来。 性选择理论表明，这些展示特征不是没有代价的，这样的展示和它们的代价就被自然选择抵消了。有柄眼果蝇提供了一个理想的模型系统来测试与雄性生殖相关的成本和权衡。这个特别的家族中的所有物种都显示出夸张的头部形态，眼睛和触角在长柄的末端移位，眼距的种间差异可以超过10倍。此外，所有现有的证据表明，眼柄是关键的性信号，用于男性对男性的竞争和女性的选择。本研究将探讨细长眼柄对有柄眼果蝇的飞行性能和存活率的影响，以评估这些影响是否与性选择的影响背道而驰。为了实现这一目标，PI将整合来自三个不同研究途径的信息。首先，要建立一个形态和性能之间的联系，在眼睛的跨度和运动性能的变化将在一个单一的物种，Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni，测试第二性征和飞行适应之间的权衡。在这项研究中，C.已经双向选择增加和减少眼跨度的达尔曼尼将用于增加在该物种中看到的自然变异。飞行期间的加速度、速度和机动性的直接测量将使用计算机集成的高速摄像机进行。此外，还将测量飞行过程中使用的载荷提升能力和能量。第二，健身受损的飞行性能的后果将直接测量在一系列的捕食回避实验在温室外壳。第三，形态学和飞行性能之间的相关进化模式在家庭内的许多物种的测量将揭示性选择的进化后果。如果眼柄损害运动能力，则预测身体设计的补偿性变化将在家族内进化以减少运动成本。这种补偿性变化间接表明，这种业绩下降是有选择地重要的。这项研究计划结合了多个学科，肯定会导致新的见解之间的相互作用的成本运动和第二性装饰品的演变。PI的教育活动将主要侧重于来自美洲原住民保留地学校和农村学校的弱势大学预科学生。这两个群体，特别是美洲原住民，传统上在大学和科学领域的代表性不足。南达科他州有大量的美洲原住民人口（约10%）和大量的农村人口。通过与移动的科学实验室（MSL）附属教师的合作，PI将为MSL编写一份关于“性选择和昆虫多样性：第二性装饰物”的文件。为MSL开发的外展项目将使来自美洲原住民保留地和农村学校的K-12学生接触科学和发现的过程。这项推广计划有可能对整个南达科他州的成千上万的人产生积极的影响。

CAREER: PERFORMANCE AND FITNESS CONSEQUENCES OF INSECT ORNAMENTSJOHN G. SWALLOWUNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTASexual selection is responsible for much of the morphological diversity among animals and is often expressed in the form of male ornamental displays. Sexual selection theory indicates that these display traits do not come without costs, such that the displays and their costs are countered by natural selection. Stalk-eyed flies provide the ideal model system to test for costs and tradeoffs related to male ornamentation. All species in this extraordinary family display exaggerated head morphology, with eyes and antennae displaced at the end of long stalks, and interspecific variation in eye span can be more than ten-fold. Furthermore, all available evidence indicates that eye stalks are critical sexual signals used in both male-male competition and female choice. This study will examine the effects of elongated eye stalks on flight performance and survivorship of stalk-eyed flies to assess whether these effects run counter to the effects of sexual selection. To achieve this goal, the PI will integrate information from three distinct avenues of research. First, to establish a link between morphology and performance, variation in eye span and locomotor performance will be measured in a single species, Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni, to test for trade-offs between secondary sexual traits and adaptations for flight. For this study, lines of C. dalmanni that have been bidirectionally selected for increased and decreased eye span will be used to increase the natural variation seen in this species. Direct measurements of acceleration, speed and maneuverability during flight will be made using computer-integrated high speed video cameras. Additionally, load lifting capacity and energy used during flight will be measured. Second, the fitness consequences of impaired flight performance will be directly measured in a series of predation avoidance experiments in greenhouse enclosures. Third, patterns of correlated evolution between morphology and flight performance measured on many species within the family Diopsidae will reveal evolutionary consequences of sexual selection. If eye stalks impair locomotor ability, compensatory changes in body design are predicted to evolve within the family to reduce the locomotor cost. Such compensatory changes would indirectly suggest that such reduction in performance was selectively important. This research program incorporates multiple disciplines and will certainly result in new insights regarding interactions between the costs of locomotion and the evolution of secondary sexual ornaments. The PI's educational activities will focus primarily on disadvantaged pre-college students from Native American reservation schools and rural schools. Both of these groups, particularly Native Americans, are traditionally underrepresented in both college and the sciences. South Dakota has both a large Native American population (~ 10%) and a large rural population. Through cooperation with the instructors affiliated with the Mobile Science Laboratory (MSL), the PI will develop a contribution on "Sexual selection and insect diversity: secondary sexual ornaments" for the MSL. Outreach projects developed for the MSL will expose K-12 students from Native American reservation and rural schools to the process of science and discovery. This outreach program has the potential to positively influence thousands of people throughout the state of South Dakota.