Mechanisms of Secondary Trait Diversification

交配后选择最近被认为是一种潜在的强大的和普遍的进化力量。 这项研究的总体目标是了解交配后选择的作用，当来自多个雄性的配子在雌性生殖道内共同出现时，在动物王国中观察到的雄性生殖特征惊人多样性的进化中发生。这些结果将代表这种选择对形态进化的重要性的第一批测试之一，并应有助于确定物种间性状多样化的新途径。以双梳果蝇（Drosophila bipectinata，Doptera：Drosophilidae）为模型，验证了雄性特异性性状与受精效率之间存在遗传相关性的基本假设。第二个主要目标是揭示生理和遗传机制，以及它们对环境的敏感性，这些机制有助于维持动物中这些次要性状的显着进化潜力。这项研究将有助于解决进化生物学中长期存在的问题：它将促进我们对进化中选择的全面理解，以及导致种群间生殖障碍并最终导致新物种形成的机制。这些结果应该为农业等应用学科提供信息，了解新物种如何出现通常有助于预测和控制有害生物的出现。因为这项研究将研究生态相关的环境（热）压力水平对适应功能的影响，结果也应该有助于预测气候变化的后果。这项工作将通过让本科生和研究生以及一名博士后研究员参与研究和教育活动，促进教学、学习和培训。将与辛辛那提自然中心合作开展实质性的外联工作，PI将在那里培训和教授志愿教育工作者和公众。

Post-mating selection has recently become recognized as a potentially powerful and general evolutionary force. The overall goal of the research is to understand the role of post-mating selection, which occurs when gametes from multiple males co-occur within the female reproductive tract, in the evolution of the striking diversity of male reproductive traits observed in the Animal Kingdom. The results will represent one of the first tests of the importance of this selection for morphological evolution, and should help define a novel route for trait diversification among species. Using Drosophila bipectinata (Diptera: Drosophilidae) as a model, the proposed research tests the fundamental hypothesis of the existence of a genetic correlation between a male-specific trait and fertilization efficiency. A second major goal is to uncover the physiological and genetic mechanisms, and their environmental sensitivity, that contribute to the maintenance of the remarkable evolutionarily potential of such secondary traits in animals.The research will contribute to the resolution of long-standing problems in evolutionary biology: it will advance our understanding of the full scope of selection in evolution, and of the mechanisms contributing to the formation of reproductive barriers between populations and ultimately of new species. The results should inform applied disciplines such as agriculture where an understanding of how new species arise often can help predict and control the emergence of pest organisms. Because the research will examine the effects of ecologically relevant levels of environmental (thermal) stress on fitness functions, the results should also help predict the consequences of climate change. The effort will promote teaching, learning and training by involving undergraduate and graduate students, and a postdoctoral researcher, in the research and educational activities. There will be a substantive outreach effort in collaboration with the Cincinnati Nature Center where the PI will train and teach volunteer educators and the general public.