Behavioral types, social plasticity and the effects of variation in social situations on sexual selection

现代生态学、进化和包括人类在内的所有生物的行为的一个主要问题是理解解释为什么一些个体比其他个体具有更高的交配和生殖成功的因素。哪些特征(例如，行为或形态特征)使一些人比其他人更成功，这些关键特征可能会因社会环境的不同而不同？该项目提供了一个新的框架，用于量化个人在行为类型(或个性；例如，大胆、进取、社交灵活性)方面的差异如何与社会状况的变化(例如，群体规模、性别比例、个性混合和群体内的社交互动模式)相互作用，以确定个人行为、群体社交动态和交配模式。为了例证和完善新的框架，我们使用了一个非常适合研究交配模式的模型系统，即溪水跳虫，宝瓶座。这些动物经常交配，而且异常容易观察。实验方法包括反复观察雄性和雌性水行者在一系列实验确定的社会情况下在半自然溪流中的行为。在前期工作的基础上，研究结果有望表明，个体在“社交技能”(选择良好的社交场合、合适的交配对象以及有效应对这些交配对象的能力)方面的差异将对交配成功产生重大影响。虽然轶事表明社交技能对人类和其他动物的成功至关重要，但该项目将提供一个新的、统计上复杂的量化框架，在包括人类在内的一般动物中科学地研究这一假说。调查员以前就这一基本主题所做的工作在科学期刊上被广泛引用，并被大众和科学媒体(报纸、杂志、广播)广泛报道。该项目将对几名博士生和本科生(包括女性和少数民族)进行现代行为、实验和统计方法方面的培训。

A major issue in modern ecology, evolution and behavior for all organisms, including humans, is to understand factors that explain why some individuals have higher mating and reproductive success than others. What traits (e.g., behaviors or morphological characters) make some individuals more successful than others, and how might these key traits differ depending on the social situation? This project provides a new framework for quantifying how differences among individuals in behavioral type (or personality; e.g. boldness, aggressiveness, social flexibility) interacts with variations in social situation (e.g., group size, sex ratio, mix of personalities and patterns of social interaction within the group) to determine individual behaviors, group social dynamics and mating patterns. To exemplify and refine the new framework a model system that is ideal for studies of mating patterns is used, namely the stream water strider, Aquarius remigis. These animals mate frequently and are unusually easy to observe. The experimental approach involves repeated observations of the behavior of male and female water striders in semi-natural streams in a range of experimentally determined social situations. Based on preliminary work, the results are expected to show that individual variation in 'social skill' (the ability to choose good social situations, appropriate mating partners and the ability to respond effectively to those partners) will have major impacts on mating success. Although anecdotes suggest that social skill is crucial for success in humans and other animals, this project will provide a new, statistically sophisticated, quantitative framework to scientifically study this hypothesis in animals in general, including humans. Previous work conducted by the investigator on this basic topic has been widely cited in scientific journals, and widely covered by popular and scientific media (newspapers, magazines, radio). The project will train several Ph. D. students and undergraduates (including women and minorities) in modern behavioral, experimental and statistical methods.