DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The consequences and mechanisms of sexual selection in Drosophila melanogaster

这个项目将使用黑腹果蝇模型系统来解决性选择研究中的两个基本问题。首先，性选择对人群适应能力的影响是什么？第二，在性别选择下有哪些男性特征，这些特征是如何形成的？雌性选择和雄性竞争的存在与否将在实验室进化实验中被实验操纵。将在实验进化的种群和祖先实验室种群中测量适应度和特征，以评估哪些特征值赋予更高的适应度，以及性选择如何改变这些特征最佳。这项研究的结果将有助于澄清性选择对自然群体的适应是积极的还是消极的影响。本科生将参与该项目，并将进行相关的独立研究项目，并将学习实验设计和数据分析的技术。这个项目开始了生物学家和化学家之间的合作。

This project will use the Drosophila melanogaster model system to address two fundamental questions in the study of sexual selection. First, what is the effect of sexual selection on a population's ability to adapt? Second, what male traits are under sexual selection and how are these traits formed? The presence or absence of female choice and male-male competition will be manipulated experimentally in a laboratory evolution experiment. Fitness and traits will be measured in the experimentally evolved populations and in the ancestral laboratory population to assess which trait values confer higher fitness and how sexual selection can change these trait optima.The results of this research will help to clarify whether sexual selection has a positive or negative effect on adaptation in natural populations. Undergraduates will participate in the project and will conduct related independent research projects and will learn techniques of experimental design and data analysis. This project begins a collaboration between biologists and chemists.