Evolution and development of character displacement

角色位移的演变与发展

• 批准号: 1019479
• 负责人: David Pfennig
• 金额: $ 52万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1019479&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Evolution; development; character; displacement

When species compete, they often evolve to become more different in morphological and behavioral features that are important in acquiring vital resources, such as food. This process by which species become more different from a competitor is called "character displacement". Character displacement is critical for explaining how different species can coexist in the same habitat and why even closely related species typically differ. Yet, we know remarkably little about how this process unfolds. The proposed research will fill this critical gap by conducting observations and experiments on natural populations of two species of frogs. This research could prove vital for understanding how living things develop, function, and change over time. Moreover, this work will help us to understand how an organism's environment, not just its genes, affects its development. Such studies are essential for evaluating the origin and treatment of developmental diseases. This work will also contribute to educational outreach by training young scientists (including K-12 students) in interdisciplinary research, and will broaden access to science by actively recruiting students from underrepresented groups. Finally, because of numerous changes to their environment, many species are currently undergoing radical shifts in their geographical ranges and thereby encountering new competitors. This work could serve as a model for what might happen to biodiversity following such encounters.

当物种竞争时，它们往往会在形态和行为特征上进化得更加不同，这些特征对获取食物等重要资源至关重要。物种变得与竞争者更加不同的过程被称为“性格置换”。角色置换对于解释不同物种如何在同一栖息地共存以及为什么即使是密切相关的物种也通常不同至关重要。然而，我们对这一过程如何展开知之甚少。拟议的研究将通过对两种青蛙的自然种群进行观察和实验来填补这一关键空白。这项研究对于了解生物如何随着时间的推移发展，功能和变化至关重要。此外，这项工作将帮助我们了解一个有机体的环境，而不仅仅是它的基因，如何影响它的发展。这些研究对于评估发育性疾病的起源和治疗至关重要。这项工作还将通过在跨学科研究方面培训青年科学家（包括K-12学生），促进教育推广，并将通过积极招收代表性不足群体的学生，扩大接触科学的机会。最后，由于环境的许多变化，许多物种目前正在经历其地理范围的根本变化，从而遇到新的竞争对手。这项工作可以作为一个模式，说明在这种遭遇之后生物多样性可能会发生什么。