Testing the role of mate choice in promoting divergent local adaptation

生物学中的一个基本问题是，生物体如何适应环境或社会群体的变化，从而创造出新的物种。一种关于这种情况如何发生的新假说表明，当女性选择有吸引力的配偶时，她们也可能倾向于与环境适应得很好的配偶。这是因为吸引配偶的展示制作成本很高，因此只有对环境适应良好的雄性才有可能制作出吸引人的展示。因此，配偶选择可能会在吸引力和局部适应之间建立联系，并在不同环境中发生时促进分歧。这项研究将通过评估一组以植物为食的昆虫的行为和生活史特征的数量遗传学来检验这一假设。一个家庭的样本将在原生环境(它们被适应的环境)和新环境中饲养。人们的期望是，在原生环境中，漂亮的雄性会表现得最好，但这种关系在新的环境中应该会破裂。通过潜在地调和促进快速多样化的配偶选择能力和创造生态差异的能力，这项研究可能会改变生物学家对两个最基本的进化过程的看法：适应和分歧。这项研究的其他更广泛的影响包括为本科生、研究生和博士后水平的学生提供研究、指导和推广方面的培训。

A fundamental question in biology is how organisms adapt to changes in their environment or in their social groups in ways that lead to the creation of new species. A novel hypothesis about how this may happen states that when females choose attractive mates they may also favor mates that are well-adapted to their environment. This is because mate-attraction displays can be costly to produce, so that only males that are well-adapted to an environment may be capable of producing attractive displays. Mate choice may thus create an association between attractiveness and local adaptation, and promote divergence when occurring in different environments. This study will test this hypothesis by evaluating the quantitative genetics of behavioral and life history traits in a group of plant-feeding insects. A sample of families will be reared on native environments (to which they are adapted), and on novel environments. The expectation is that in the native environment attractive males will have the highest performance, but this relationship should break down in novel environments. By potentially reconciling the ability of mate choice to promote rapid diversification with the ability to create ecological differences, this research may transform how biologists view two of the most basic evolutionary processes: adaptation and divergence. Other broader impacts of this study include training in research, mentorship, and outreach for students at undergrad, grad, and postdoctoral levels.