Reproductive pairing, conflict and offspring size in a marine snail.

所有生物都面临两种分配权衡：一种是在许多小后代和少数大后代之间进行分配；第二个是现在和未来的繁殖。没有什么比海洋无脊椎动物在卵子、后代和窝卵数量上的巨大差异更明显的了。越来越清楚的是，在许多海洋和陆地生物分类群中，卵和孵化大小存在着大量的种内变异。本项目关注的是卵子和后代大小变化的一个很少被考虑，但可能广泛存在的来源，即在亲本资源在兄弟姐妹之间的最佳分配中产生的不可避免的利益冲突。生殖配对制度——由于它对相互作用的兄弟姐妹之间的亲缘关系的影响——可以对这些冲突的程度和解决产生决定性的影响。本研究描述了海螺（Nucella ostrina）配对系统的变化如何影响母体供给和后代大小的变化。这项工作还将确定生殖配对系统的变化是否与整个菊属的母体供应模式和模式相对应。该项目具有几个广泛的科学意义：1)一妻多夫制和后代封装在海洋生物、被子植物和营养动物中普遍存在；然而，很少有研究考虑到它们的进化后果，尤其是它们的成本。2)生殖配对系统和亲代冲突也可能推动合子后生殖隔离的进化。这项研究揭示了在海洋系统中造成这种隔离的一种新颖且可能广泛存在的机制。3)本研究考察了影响捕食物种（如藤壶和贻贝）及其捕食者的海洋过程之间联系的后果。与其他被充分研究的捕食者（如海星）不同，珠藻的扩散潜力有限，因此更有可能表现出空间受限的种群动态以及反映不同食物供应的适应性。4)该研究将进一步加深我们对海洋群落成员之间生态和进化联系规模的认识，为科学地设计既能维持物种多样性又能维持遗传多样性的海洋保护区网络提供基础。蜗牛，Nucella，在重要的商业海洋资源物种上与海洋动物捕食者有相似之处。该项目将与三个拓展/培训项目相结合，包括一个为从事数学和生物学工作的本科生提供的合作项目，一个招募不同人口的当地高中生合作进行教师研究项目的REU项目，以及一个为博士学生提供K-12课堂实践经验的项目，以及K-12教师和学生体验海洋科学最新技术和概念进展的项目。该项目将支持一个分子生态学网站和相关的研讨会，以及一个多用户DNA设施，以培训这些学生、博士后和K-12教师进行最先进的分子遗传分析。它将支持一些年轻科学家，为他们提供行为学、生态学、进化和海洋生物学等多学科的培训。

All organisms face two allocation trade-offs: one between many small versus a few large offspring; and the second between present and future reproduction. Nowhere are these allocation trade-offs more apparent than in the vast range of variation in egg, offspring, and clutch size exhibited among species of marine invertebrates. It has become increasingly clear that, in many taxa of marine and terrestrial organisms, there is substantial intraspecific variation for egg and hatching size. This project focuses on a rarely considered, but potentially widespread, source of variation in egg and offspring size, namely, the inevitable conflicts of interest that arise over the optimal distribution of parental resources among siblings. The reproductive pairing system - because of its effects on the relatedness of interacting siblings - can have a decisive impact on the magnitude and resolution of these conflicts. This research characterizes how variation in the pairing system of a marine snail (Nucella ostrina) accounts for variation in maternal provisioning and offspring size. The work will also establish whether shifts in the reproductive pairing system correspond to patterns and modes of maternal provisioning across the entire genus of Nucella. This project has several broad scientific implications: 1) Polyandry and encapsulation of offspring are widespread in marine organisms, angiosperms, and matrotrophic animals; however, few studies have considered their evolutionary ramifications, especially their costs. 2) Reproductive pairing system and parental-offspring conflict may also drive the evolution of post-zygotic reproductive isolation. This research brings to light a novel and potentially widespread mechanism causing such isolation in marine systems. 3) This study examines consequence of the links between oceanographic processes that affect recruitment of prey species, such as barnacles and mussels, and their predators. Unlike other well-studied predators such as seastars, Nucella has limited dispersal potential, hence is far more likely to exhibit spatially constrained population dynamics as well as adaptations that reflect varying food supplies. 4) The research will advance our understanding of the scale of ecological and evolutionary connections among members of marine communities, providing the foundation for scientifically informed design of marine reserve networks that sustain both species and genetic diversity. The snail, Nucella, has similarities to marine animal predators on commercially important marine resource species.The project will interface with three outreach/training programs, including a collaborative program for undergraduates working at the interface of math and biology, an REU program that recruits a diverse population of local high-school students to collaborate on faculty research projects, and a program that provides Ph.D. students with hands-on experience in K-12 classrooms, and K-12 teachers and students experience with in the latest technical and conceptual advances in ocean science. This project will support a molecular ecology website and associated workshops, and a multi-user DNA facility to train these students, postdocs, and K-12 teachers in state-of-the-art molecular genetic analysis. It will support a number of young scientists, giving them multidisciplinary training at the interface of behavior, ecology, evolution, and marine biology.