Collaborative Research: RUI: Carotenoid trade-offs in a species with reversed sexual dichromatism: environmental influences and fitness consequences

动物必须就如何分配有限的资源做出经济上的决定，以维持健康和生存。研究人员专注于类胡萝卜素色素，这是人类和非人类动物饮食中一种特别重要和有限的资源。脊椎动物不能合成类胡萝卜素，必须从有限的饮食来源中获得类胡萝卜素。类胡萝卜素在动物生理学中扮演着三个重要的角色，有时甚至是相互竞争的角色。首先，类胡萝卜素直接导致了许多动物的红色、橙色和黄色，而这种颜色通常是吸引配偶所必需的。第二，血液中或组织中储存的类胡萝卜素支持免疫系统。第三，类胡萝卜素是重要的抗氧化剂，它通过清除被称为自由基的潜在破坏性分子来保护人体细胞。类胡萝卜素权衡假说预测，当饮食中的类胡萝卜素有限时，动物会将现有的类胡萝卜素分配给当时对它们最有利的组织类型。研究人员采取了一种独特的方法来探索这一假说，他们研究了雌性、有罪的慈鱼、黑鳍金枪鱼和中美洲鱼类中的类胡萝卜素权衡，在这些鱼类中，雌性鱼--而不是雄性--颜色鲜艳。雌性有一个额外的限制，那就是将类胡萝卜素分配给它们的卵，以促进后代的存活。研究人员将结合实验室和实地研究，检查捕食者和寄生虫等环境应激源如何影响类胡萝卜素分配策略，以及这些策略如何影响健康、吸引力和后代存活。由于所有脊椎动物在某种程度上依赖类胡萝卜素，这项研究将为摄取和适当分配必要的营养如何影响生理和生殖提供基本的见解。这项提议包括一个重要的培训部分，因为首席调查员都将在各自机构培训和指导本科生和研究生。他们还将与尼加拉瓜合作者合作，增加尼加拉瓜生物野外站的研究基础设施，并培训尼加拉瓜学生。

Animals must make economical decisions about how to distribute limiting resources in order to maintain health and survival. The investigators focus on carotenoid pigments, a particularly important and limiting resource in the diets of human and non-human animals. Vertebrate animals cannot synthesize carotenoids and must obtain them from dietary sources which may be available in only limited quantities. Carotinoids they play three important - and sometimes competing - roles in animal physiology. First, carotenoids are directly responsible for many examples of red, orange and yellow coloration in animals, and this coloration is often necessary for attracting mates. Second, carotenoids in the bloodstream or stored in tissue support the immune system. Third, carotenoids are important antioxidants, which protect the body's cells by removing potentially damaging molecules called free radicals. The carotenoid trade-off hypothesis predicts that when dietary carotenoids are limiting, animals will allocate existing carotenoids to whichever tissue type is most beneficial to them at that time. The investigators take a unique approach to exploring this hypothesis by studying carotenoid trade-offs in female, convict cichlids, Amatitlania nigrofasciata, Central American fish in which females - not males - are brightly colored. Females have the added constraint of allocating carotenoids to their eggs to facilitate offspring survival. The investigators will combine laboratory and field research to examine how environmental stressors such as predators and parasites influence carotenoid allocation strategies, and how these strategies impact health, attractiveness, and offspring survival. Because all vertebrate animals rely in some way on carotenoids, this research will provide fundamental insights into how ingesting and properly allocating essential nutrients affects both physiology and reproduction. This proposal includes a significant training component, as both principal investigators will train and mentor undergraduate and graduate students at their institutions. They will also work with Nicaraguan collaborators to increase research infrastructure at a Nicaraguan biological field station and train Nicaraguan students.