LTREB Renewal: Evolutionary Ecology of Seabird Reproductive Life Histories

该项目继续对长寿海鸟进行为期30年的研究，重点关注衰老的原因和后果。在加拉帕戈斯群岛，纳斯卡鲣鸟能活到25岁左右，比同等大小的哺乳动物要长得多，而这种长寿的原因和鸟类在老年时的表现特别有趣。该项目长期以来一直在雏鸟身上放置永久性编号的腿带，雏鸟的父母也通过腿带来识别，由此了解了数千种亲子关系。在接下来的五年里，研究人员将利用这些家庭关系来估计衰老的遗传基础。通过将数千种动物的完整生殖生活史与跨越5代的社会谱系和完整的遗传谱系相结合，研究团队将量化生殖史和基因型在衰老衰退中的作用。他们将继续研究早期生活经历对成年行为的影响，包括唯一已知的人类“暴力循环”的类比，即在自然人群中，将年轻时的虐待与后来的虐待联系起来。该项目的结果为厄瓜多尔和秘鲁政府提供了唯一的人口统计数据，这两个国家都是《保护信天翁和海燕协定》的签署国；它们有助于两国制定有关海鸟生物学的政策。该研究小组在收集保护濒危和受威胁信天翁物种（包括加拉帕戈斯鲣鸟物种）所需的生态数据方面发挥了关键作用。目前的项目将继续提供这些数据。提出了向当地高中推广的计划，直接涉及了解环境和等位基因相互作用如何影响遗传特征表达的州教育标准。讲习班将在两所高中进行，时间安排与相关的课堂材料一致。首席研究员将培训大约12名维克森林大学的本科生来主持这些研讨会，将本科生带入K-12的课堂环境和那里的职业可能性。每年有500多名高中生从这些小组研讨会中受益。

This project continues a 30-year study of long-lived seabirds, focusing on the causes and consequences of aging. On the Galapagos Islands, Nazca boobies live into their mid-20s, much longer than similarly-sized mammals do, and the reasons for this extended lifespan and the birds' performance in old age are of special interest. Thousands of parent-offspring relationships are known through the project's long history of placing permanent numbered leg bands on nestlings whose parents are also identified by leg bands. Over the next five years, the investigators will use these family relationships to estimate the genetic basis of aging. By combining the complete reproductive life histories of thousands of animals with social pedigrees spanning 5 generations and complete genetic pedigrees, the research team will quantify the roles of reproductive history and genotype in senescent decline. They will continue research on the effects of early life experiences on adult behavior, including the only known analog of the human "cycle of violence," connecting abuse when young to perpetration of abuse later, in a natural population. Results from this project provide the only demographic data available to the governments of Ecuador and Peru, both signatories to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels; they are instrumental in the design of policy on seabird biology in both countries. The research team has played a pivotal role in collecting the ecological data needed for conserving endangered and threatened albatross species, including Galapagos booby species. The current project will continue to deliver these data. Plans are presented for outreach to local high schools that directly addresses state education standards on understanding how the environment, and the interaction of alleles, influences the expression of genetic traits. Workshops will be conducted in two high schools and timed to coincide with related classroom material. The lead investigator will train approximately 12 Wake Forest University undergraduates to conduct these workshops, bringing the undergraduates to the K-12 classroom environment and career possibilities there. Over 500 high school students benefit annually from these small-group workshops.