DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Environmentally-driven coupling of selection and heritability in a wild insect population

论文研究：野生昆虫种群中环境驱动的选择与遗传力的耦合

• 批准号: 1311475
• 负责人: Edmund Brodie
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: University of Virginia Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-06-01 至 2015-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1311475&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Environmentally; driven; coupling

Environmental variation can dramatically alter trait evolution in wild populations because it affects two drivers of adaptive evolution: natural selection and heritability (the resemblance between parents and offspring). Variation in selection among environments is common; intriguingly, recent studies demonstrate that the environment also affects heritability. Consequently, environmental variation may generate a systematic association between these two forces, which could accelerate evolution if selection is strongest in the same environment that produces high heritability. The proposed work will examine environmental coupling of selection and heritability in a male trait (horns) in wild populations of forked fungus beetles (Bolitotherus cornutus). The proposed work will measure selection on horn length in ten beetle populations from three different fungal environments and estimate the heritability of horn length in the same populations. These data will be used to measure the correlation between selection and heritability and quantify its effect on the predicted response to selection. Understanding factors that constrain adaptive evolution under varying environmental conditions is particularly important in the context of climate change. In addition, the project involves training of a graduate student and mentorship of undergraduate students. Components of the project will be used in workshops for the Mountain Lake Biological Station partnership with local educators in rural southwestern Virginia. The research results will be disseminated in scientific journals, academic conferences, and interdisciplinary symposia, such as the Jefferson Scholars Foundation?s Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue.

环境变化可以极大地改变野生种群的性状进化，因为它影响了适应性进化的两个驱动因素：自然选择和遗传力（父母和后代之间的相似性）。环境之间的选择变化是常见的;有趣的是，最近的研究表明，环境也会影响遗传力。因此，环境变化可能会在这两种力量之间产生系统性的关联，如果在产生高遗传力的相同环境中选择最强，那么这可能会加速进化。拟议的工作将研究环境耦合的选择和遗传力的雄性性状（角）在野生种群的叉状真菌甲虫（Bolitotherus cornutus）。本研究将在三种不同真菌环境下对10个甲虫种群的角长进行选择，并估计同一种群角长的遗传力。这些数据将用于测量选择和遗传力之间的相关性，并量化其对预测选择反应的影响。在气候变化的背景下，了解在不同环境条件下制约适应性进化的因素尤为重要。此外，该项目还包括培训一名研究生和指导本科生。该项目的组成部分将用于山湖生物站与弗吉尼亚州西南部农村当地教育工作者合作的讲习班。研究成果将在科学期刊、学术会议和跨学科研讨会上传播，如杰斐逊学者基金会？跨学科对话论坛。