Maternal effects as a bridge between parental environment and offspring phenotype during range expansion

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。数量众多的物种预计将改变它们的地理范围，以应对气候变化。预测这种范围变化将发生的范围和速度是困难的，因为我们目前对使物种入侵并扩散到新地区的机制了解很少。拟议的研究将利用最近发现的西方蓝知更鸟(Sialia Miciana)的大规模活动范围扩大，以深入了解这一过程背后的机制。在这个物种中，在范围边缘的新种群的殖民期间，繁殖的雌性动物会影响雄性后代的殖民行为，以应对当地资源丰度的变化。当资源有限时，它们产生的雄性会分散并扩散到新的地区；而当资源丰富时，它们会产生留在出生种群中繁殖的雄性。然而，繁殖的雌性影响后代传播的最接近的机制尚不清楚。这项拟议的研究结合了西方蓝知更鸟活动范围扩大的历史和对被标记个体的长期跟踪的详细知识，以及对母体生理的实地实验，以测试母亲在活动范围扩大期间如何影响后代行为的替代假设。这项工作不仅将深入了解范围扩大的潜在机制，而且还提供了一个独特的机会，通过现有的蓝鸟监测计划传播与气候变化有关的物种共存和生物多样性的信息，该计划涉及当地牧场主、美洲原住民部落和普通公众之间的合作。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Numerous species are expected to modify their geographical range in response to climate change. Predicting the extent and speed with which such range changes will occur is difficult because we currently have a poor understanding of the mechanisms that enable species to invade and spread into new areas. The proposed research will capitalize on the recently discovered large scale range expansion of western bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying this process. In this species, during the colonization of new populations at the edge of the range, breeding females influence the colonizing behavior of male offspring in response to changes in local resource abundance. When resources are limited, they produce males that disperse and spread into new areas; whereas, when resources are abundant, they produce males that remain in their natal population to breed. However, the proximate mechanisms by which breeding females influence offspring dispersal are not known. The proposed research combines a detailed knowledge of the history of western bluebird's range expansion and long-term tracking of marked individuals with field experiments on maternal physiology to test alternative hypotheses of how mothers influence offspring behavior during range expansion. Not only will this work provide insight into the mechanisms underlying range expansion, but it also provides a unique opportunity for dissemination of information about species coexistence and biodiversity in relation to climate change through existing bluebird monitoring programs which involve collaborations between local ranchers, Native American tribes and members of the general public.