Maternal and paternal effects on behavior in threespined sticklebacks

众所周知，父母通过遗传物质影响后代，但人们越来越认识到父母也可以通过非遗传机制影响后代。迄今为止，研究集中在单亲对其后代的影响上，尽管在大多数生物体中母性和父性同时发生的生物学现实。该项目的目的是研究母亲和父亲对三棘鱼（Gasterosteus aculeatus）后代行为的共同影响，三棘鱼是一种小鱼，父亲单独负责父母的照顾。研究刺鱼的优势之一是，母亲和父亲对后代的非遗传影响在时间上是分离的，并通过不同的机制发生：母亲通过卵中的物质影响后代的早期发育，而父亲通过他们的养育行为影响后代。这项研究将揭示父母对后代行为的非遗传影响是否具有适应性，并有助于后代在危险环境中生存。本着这项赠款的精神，与当地男孩和女孩俱乐部一起发起了一个公共宣传项目，以研究8-10岁儿童的野生动物行为，其中许多儿童受到赠款中研究的问题（寄养，收养，养育方式的差异等）的影响，他们很少有机会从事科学研究。这项合作的最终成果将是一本适合这个年龄组的基本行为实验手册。拟议的活动将为许多本科生，研究生和博士后提供培训和推广机会，了解母亲和父亲如何结合联合收割机来塑造他们的后代在刺鱼的行为可以作为一个模型，父母对后代的影响在其他物种，包括人类。

While it is well-known that parents influence their offspring via the genetic material they pass on, it is becoming increasingly recognized that parents can also influence their offspring via non-genetic mechanisms. To date, studies have focused on the influence of a single parent on their offspring, despite the biological reality that mothering and fathering co-occur in most organisms. The goal of the proposed project is to examine the joint influence of mothers and fathers on offspring behavior in threespined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), a small fish in which the father is solely responsible for parental care. One of the advantages of studying sticklebacks is that the non-genetic influence of mothers and fathers on offspring is disassociated in time and occurs via different mechanisms: mothers influence offspring early in development via material in the eggs, while fathers influence offspring via their parenting behavior. The proposed studies will reveal whether non-genetic parental effects on offspring behavior can be adaptive, and help to prepare offspring for survival in a dangerous environment. In the spirit of this grant, a public outreach project with a local Boys and Girls Club has been initiated to study wildlife behavior with 8-10 year-old children, many of whom have been affected by the issues that are studied in the grant (foster care, adoption, differences in parenting styles, etc.), and who have had few opportunities to engage in science. The end result of this collaboration will be a handbook for basic behavioral experiments that are appropriate for this age group. The proposed activity will provide training and outreach opportunities for many undergraduates, a graduate student and one Postdoc, Understanding how mothers and fathers combine to shape the behavior of their offspring in sticklebacks can be used as a model for the influence of parents on offspring in other species, including humans.