DISSERTATION RESEARCH: How do a signal and whole-organism performance interact to determine reproductive success?

动物使用特定的特征或行为来相互传递信号。这样的信号可以用来宣传信号者的特定品质，并可能影响个体的繁殖成功。尽管许多研究都集中在这种关系上，但信号与动物健康(即生存和繁殖)之间的因果关系尚不清楚。这个项目将通过研究一种宣传功能特征的信号来解决这一差距。功能性状是个体不同系统的组合输出，可以作为选择的目标。这项研究的目标是确定信号和功能特征是如何相互作用来决定健康的。绿色变态蜥蜴非常适合探索这些关系。可伸展喉扇的大小，或露珠，与雄性猛烈咬人的能力有关。咬得厉害的雄性往往会赢得与咬力较小的雄性的攻击性相遇。唾液大小的实验操作，结合生殖成功的行为观察和基因测试，将被用来确定一个信号及其相关功能如何影响雄性生殖成功。这一领域相对未被探索，并对动物信号和性选择的理论工作产生了影响。变态蜥蜴为许多人所熟知，它们是研究行为、生态和进化的模式生物。因此，它们是教授生物学学生有关动物交流和性选择的理想有机体。这项研究将涉及本科生和普通公众的宣传。

Animals use certain traits or behaviors to signal to one another. Such signaling may be used to advertise specific qualities of the signaler and may impact the reproductive success of the individual. Though much research has focused on this relationship, the causal links between the signal and an animal's fitness (i.e., survival and reproduction) are unclear. This project will address this gap by studying a signal that advertises a functional trait. Functional traits are the combined output of different systems in an individual and can be the targets of selection. The goal of this research is to determine how signals and functional traits interact to determine fitness. Green anole lizards are well-suited to explore these relationships. The size of the extendable throat-fan, or dewlap, is related to the ability of a male to bite hard. Males that bite hard tend to win aggressive encounters with males that bite with less force. Experimental manipulations of dewlap size, combined with behavioral observations and genetic tests of reproductive success, will be used to determine how a signal and its correlated function influence male reproductive success. This area is relatively unexplored and has implications for theoretical work on animal signaling and sexual selection. Anole lizards are well-known by many and serve as model organisms for studies of behavior, ecology and evolution. Hence, they are ideal organisms to teach students of biology about animal communication and sexual selection. This study will involve undergraduates and outreach to the general public.