International Research Fellowship Program: The Evolution of Polyandry in Heterogeneous Environments

国际研究奖学金计划：异质环境中一妻多夫制的演变

• 批准号: 0502224
• 负责人: Tracie Ivy
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Ivy Tracie M
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-01-15 至 2009-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0502224&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: International; Research; Fellowship; Program; Evolution

The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-two-month research fellowship by Dr. Tracie M. Ivy to work with Dr. Paul I. Ward at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. The aim of this project is to investigate the evolutionary process of sexual selection in a model study organism, the yellow dung fly (Scathophaga stercoraria). Females of many animal species choose their mates based on males' potential quality as genetic sires. However, recent research has demonstrated that male genetic quality varies across different environments due to gene-by-environment interactions (GEIs), in which environmental conditions influence the way genes are expressed. For females in heterogeneous environments, the existence of GEIs implies that one mate is probably inadequate to provide a female with the best genetic sire over all microhabitats within a particular habitat. To produce offspring that perform well in multiple environments, females may mate with many different males, ensuring the production of genetically diverse offspring. If polyandry is selectively advantageous in heterogeneous habitats due to gene-by-environment interactions, then I predict that polyandrous females will leave more surviving offspring than monandrous females because their offspring are of higher genetic variability. The idea that male genetic quality is not absolute represents a new direction in the study of sexual selection. As well as contributing to this new avenue of investigation, the work outlined in this proposal seeks to test a hypothesis that has long been offered as an explanation for the evolution of female multiple mating, but which has rarely been empirically investigated.

国际研究奖学金项目使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行3至24个月的研究。该计划的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用独特或互补的设施、专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持Tracie M. Ivy博士与Paul I. Ward博士在瑞士苏黎世大学进行为期22个月的研究。本项目旨在研究黄粪蝇（Scathophaga stercoraria）性选择的进化过程。许多动物的雌性都是根据雄性的潜在遗传品质来选择配偶的。然而，最近的研究表明，由于基因-环境相互作用（GEIs），环境条件影响基因的表达方式，男性遗传质量在不同的环境中有所不同。对于生活在异质环境中的雌性来说，基因多样性的存在意味着一个配偶可能不足以在一个特定生境的所有微生境中为雌性提供最好的遗传父系。为了产生在多种环境中表现良好的后代，雌性可能与许多不同的雄性交配，以确保产生基因多样化的后代。如果由于基因与环境的相互作用，一妻多夫制在异质生境中具有选择性优势，那么我预测，一妻多夫制的雌性会比一妻多夫制的雌性留下更多的存活后代，因为它们的后代具有更高的遗传变异性。男性遗传质量不是绝对的这一观点代表了性选择研究的一个新方向。除了为这一新的研究途径做出贡献外，本提案中概述的工作还试图验证一个假说，该假说长期以来一直被用来解释女性多次交配的进化，但很少进行实证研究。