DISSERTATION RESEARCH:Evolutionary flexibility of hormone systems and behavior

生物学家仍然不了解遗传和环境影响相互作用以产生功能良好的有机体的机制。这个项目利用对特里尼迪亚孔雀鱼(Poecilia Reticata)应激激素的丰富研究，探讨应激激素的差异如何协调受这些激素影响的特征的有利变化，如行为、颜色和体型。为了解决这些问题，该项目使用区分遗传背景和饲养环境影响的育种设计来测量在实验室饲养的鱼类的激素水平和各种行为。该项目将揭示长期和短期环境差异如何改变荷尔蒙水平，以及荷尔蒙水平变化对影响孔雀鱼生存的特征的影响。这些结果将揭示基因和环境相互作用形成多个特征的荷尔蒙机制。此外，激素水平--特别是应激激素水平--通常被用来预测野生动物和家养动物的健康和适合度，了解遗传和环境如何相互作用来改变自然种群中的激素水平，将提高对动物如何对新的或不断变化的环境做出反应的预测，例如栖息地退化、入侵物种和气候变化。这项论文改进助学金将支持一名研究生的培养和多名本科生的研究参与。该项目还将接触当地的初中和高中，使用孔雀鱼作为课堂上以探究为基础的科学的典范。

Biologists still don't understand the mechanisms by which genetic and environmental influences interact to produce well-functioning organisms. This project takes advantage of the wealth of research on stress hormones in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) to ask how differences in stress hormones coordinate favorable changes in traits influenced by these hormones such as behavior, color, and body size. To address these questions, the project measures hormone levels and various behaviors in fish reared in the laboratory using a breeding design that distinguishes the effects of genetic background and rearing environment. The project will reveal how long- and short-term environmental differences alter hormone levels and the consequences of changes in hormone levels on traits that influence guppy survival. The results will reveal the hormonal mechanisms by which genes and the environment interact to shape multiple traits. In addition, hormone levels - in particular stress hormone levels - are often used to predict health and fitness in wild and domestic animals, and understanding how genetics and environment interact to modify levels in natural populations will improve predictions of how animals respond to novel or changing environments, such as habitat degradation, invasive species, and climate change. This dissertation improvement grant will support the training of a graduate student and research involvement of multiple undergraduate students. The project will also reach out to local middle and high schools using guppies as a model for inquiry-based science in the classroom.