DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Divergent selection and behavioral isolation due to anthropogenic ecosystem fragmentation

最近在自然生态系统中进行的研究表明，较短的、十年制的时间尺度与野生种群进化过程的研究有关。在广泛的物种中发现了这种快速进化变化，其中许多物种具有经济和生态重要性(例如，具有商业价值的鱼类和农业害虫)。因此，人类驱动的生态变化，如气候变化、污染、灭绝和过度开发，越来越多地被认为是进化变化的动因。这一蓬勃发展的研究方向的一个新出现的结果是，动物通信系统，如用于配偶选择、捕食者检测和物种识别的系统，对人为生态系统的变化特别敏感。这项研究阐述了由于生态条件的改变，通信系统是如何进化的。这项研究产生的数据对于更全面地了解这个日益由人类主导的星球上的野生种群至关重要。科研与教育相结合也是一个重要组成部分。教育计划和实地环境课程的开发将建立在与当地巴哈马非政府组织(例如环境之友)等利益攸关方的长期合作关系基础上，并直接支持致力于传播与美国和国外当代和新兴环境管理情景相关的保护信息和科学的计划的继续和扩大。这项研究将探讨陆地人为生态系统变化在改变水生鱼类通信系统进化中的作用，在该系统中，信号者(通常为男性)和接受者(通常为女性)的进化利益不同。在这些类型的制度中，利益冲突选择让男性通过夸大她们的信号来利用现有的女性偏好，让女性歧视这些男性。重要的是，信号员的剥削和通信系统的稳定，理论上是通过高生态成本来控制的，例如由夸大信号的低质量雄性支付的捕食风险(撒谎成本)。这项研究将使用一系列沿海湿地对这一预测进行评估，在这些湿地中，由于栖息地的碎片化，捕食者已经灭绝。具体地说，检验了两个假设：1)人为的捕食者灭绝(从而降低了不诚实的成本)会导致男性不诚实信号的发生率增加，2)女性偏好的强度将与男性不诚实的程度正相关。从本质上讲，我们预测，人为捕食者的灭绝将导致男性不诚实的比率更高，而女性对那些代表功能通信系统受到侵蚀的信号的偏好下降。

Recent research conducted in natural ecosystems has demonstrated that shorter, decadal, timescales are relevant for the study of evolutionary processes in wild populations. Such rapid evolutionary changes have been discovered in a wide range of species, many of which are of economic and ecological importance (e.g., commercially valuable fish and agricultural pests). Consequently, human-driven ecological changes such as climate change, pollution, extinction, and overexploitation are increasingly implicated as agents of evolutionary change. One emerging result of this burgeoning research direction is that animal communication systems, such as those used in mate choice, predator detection, and species identification, are particularly sensitive to anthropogenic ecosystem alterations. This study addresses how communication systems are evolving due to altered ecological conditions. Data such as those generated by this study are critical for the advancement of a more integrated understanding of wild populations on an increasingly human-dominated planet. Integrating scientific research and education is also an important component. Education programs, and the development of field-based environmental courses, will build from long-term collaborative relationships with stakeholders such as local Bahamian NGOs (e.g., Friends of the Environment) and directly supports continuation and expansion of programs dedicated to the dissemination of conservation information and science relevant for contemporary and emerging environmental management scenarios in the United States and abroad.This study will address the role of terrestrial anthropogenic ecosystem changes in altering the evolution of aquatic fish communication systems in which the evolutionary interests of the signaler (typically male) and the receiver (typically female) diverge. In these types of systems conflicting interests select for males to exploit existing female preferences by exaggerating their signals and for females to discriminate against such males. Importantly, exploitation by signalers, and the stability of the communication system, is theorized to be kept in check by high ecological costs, such as predation risk, paid by low quality males that exaggerate their signals (costs of lying). This research will evaluate this prediction using a series of coastal wetlands in which predators have been extirpated due to habitat fragmentation. Specifically, two hypotheses are tested: 1) anthropogenic predator extirpation (and thus lower costs of dishonesty) will cause increased rates of dishonest signaling in males, and 2) the strength of female preference will be positively correlated with the degree of male dishonesty. In essence, we predict that anthropogenic predator extirpation will result in higher rates of male dishonesty and a decrease in female preference for those signals representing the erosion of a functional communication system.