Collaborative Research: Parental care and the integration of personality and plasticity at multiple levels of phenotypic variance

合作研究：父母的照顾以及表型变异多个层面的人格和可塑性的整合

• 批准号: 1257718
• 负责人: David Westneat
• 金额: $ 67万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1257718&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Parental; care; integration

Labile traits like behavior exhibit variation at multiple levels of organization; within individuals, among individuals, and among populations and species. The nature of this variation influences evolutionary processes, and can help explain how organisms respond to rapid environmental changes and why some thrive in new habitats and others dwindle. In this project, variance in parental behavior of house sparrows will be measured across multiple breeding attempts and separated into its constituent components. Manipulations of offspring demand will test among two alternative hypotheses for why individuals that routinely assiduously care for offspring also are more flexible. A novel statistical technique will be used to assess hierarchical patterns of variance in parental behavior. Additional experiments using controlled feeders in both free-living and captive subjects will test if differences in within-individual variance in care are a byproduct of decisions affecting mean levels of care or adaptive management of random variance in available food. Finally, measurements of hormone levels in response to manipulations as well as a novel experiment in which two hormones will be manipulated will test between alternative hypotheses about the underlying mechanisms that influence phenotypic variance in parental behavior at multiple levels. The project will train a post-doctoral scholar, support graduate research projects, foster undergraduates to gain experience in blending biology and statistics, and help support several initiatives to provide new opportunities for experiencing research to those without access to active scientific studies.

像行为这样的不稳定特征在多个组织层面上表现出差异；在个人，个人以及种群和物种之间。这种变化的性质会影响进化过程，并可以帮助解释生物如何应对快速环境变化的反应，以及为什么有些人在新栖息地中壮成长，而另一些人则在减少。在这个项目中，将在多种育种尝试中测量房屋麻雀的父母行为差异，并分为其组成部分。对后代需求的操纵将在两个替代假设之间检验，以表明为什么经常刻薄地照顾后代的人也更加灵活。一种新颖的统计技术将用于评估父母行为方差的层次差异模式。在自由生活和圈养受试者中使用受控喂食器使用受控喂食器的其他实验将测试护理中个体内差异的差异是影响平均护理水平或可用食物中随机差异的自适应水平的副产品。最后，对操纵的响应激素水平的测量以及一个新的实验，在该实验中，将对两种激素进行操纵，将在替代假设之间检验有关影响父母行为在多个水平上影响表型差异的基本机制的替代假设。该项目将培训一名博士后学者，支持研究生研究项目，培养本科生，以获得混合生物学和统计学的经验，并帮助支持几项计划，以提供新的机会，为无法获得积极科学研究的人提供研究。