CAREER: Integrating Evolutionary and Mechanistic Investigation of Variation in Cooperation and Life History

职业：整合合作和生活史变异的进化和机制研究

• 批准号: 1453408
• 负责人: Emily DuVal
• 金额: $ 73万
• 依托单位: Florida State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1453408&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Integrating; Evolutionary; Mechanistic; Investigation

Cooperation is a key part of many complex animal societies, but even within close-knit groups some individuals cooperate more than others. We now know individuals may benefit from cooperation in several ways, but mechanisms underlying decisions to cooperate and variation in the amount of cooperation remain incompletely understood. The lance-tailed manakin provides an excellent opportunity to investigate why individuals vary in cooperative behavior, and how cooperative and non-cooperative behaviors coexist. Males of this tropical bird cooperate with non-relatives in coordinated courtship displays, but only dominant alphas mate. Some males serve long terms (6+ years) as non-breeding betas, while others become alphas without ever being betas. Both highly cooperative and non-cooperative males breed once alpha, but males cooperating for the average number of years have low alpha success. This project will assess the role of territory quality, genetic variability, phenotypic plasticity and bet-hedging strategies on beta male behavior. Undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral trainees will all be involved in lab and field work in the U.S. and Panama. This work integrates research and education by (1) implementing an international field course for undergraduates that combines involvement in long-term research with student-designed projects; (2) hosting three undergraduates for REU projects in Panama; (3) developing outreach exercises for 4th-6th graders; (4) publishing educational resources and establishing an associated webcam; and (5) establishing an educational display on the field site, visited by 8000-10,000 tourists/yr. This project investigates mechanisms underlying behavioral variation in cooperation in the lance-tailed manakin. It assesses the role of ecological constraints, experimentally quantifying effects of territory quality on beta behavior, and tests three complementary hypotheses explaining the occurrence of disruptive selection: genetic variability, phenotypic plasticity, and bet-hedging in unpredictable environments. The project quantifies additive genetic variance in cooperation using animal models on behavioral histories of pedigreed males. Effects of individual phenotype on life history and cooperation are investigated by measuring the relationships of condition, stress responsiveness, and telomeres (repeated nucleotides on chromosome ends, implicated as bioindicators of physiological state). Measures of lifetime siring success will yield insights about whether cooperators reduce variance in lifetime reproductive output. The project will train one postdoctoral researcher, at least one graduate student, and 15 postgraduates in field, laboratory, and analytical techniques. This project provides insight into both the function of cooperation by delayed direct benefits and the forces underlying disruptive selection on behavioral phenotypes. All data from the study will be archived at the Florida State University, and metadata associated with publications will be archived on Dryad.org. Databases will furthermore be accessible through a data repository held at the Smithsonian developed as part of the Manakin Research Coordination Network.

合作是许多复杂动物社会的关键部分，但即使在紧密联系的群体中，一些人也比其他人合作得更多。我们现在知道，个人可以通过几种方式从合作中受益，但合作决定背后的机制和合作金额的差异仍然不完全清楚。长矛尾巴马纳金提供了一个很好的机会来研究为什么个体的合作行为不同，以及合作和非合作行为是如何共存的。这种热带鸟类的雄性在协调的求偶表演中与非亲属合作，但只有占主导地位的阿尔法鸟类交配。一些雄性作为非繁殖的贝塔长期服役(6年以上)，而另一些则成为阿尔法而从未成为贝塔。高度合作和不合作的雄性都只繁殖一次阿尔法，但合作平均年限的雄性阿尔法成功率较低。该项目将评估地域质量、遗传变异性、表型可塑性和套期保值策略对贝塔男性行为的作用。本科生、研究生和博士后实习生都将参与美国和巴拿马的实验室和实地工作。这项工作通过以下方式将研究与教育结合起来：(1)为本科生实施国际实地课程，将长期研究与学生设计的项目结合起来；(2)在巴拿马接待三名REU项目的本科生；(3)为4-6年级的学生开展外联活动；(4)出版教育资源并建立相关的网络摄像头；以及(5)在实地建立一个教育展示，每年有8000-10,000名游客访问。这个项目调查了长矛尾巴玛纳金鸟在合作中行为差异的潜在机制。它评估了生态约束的作用，通过实验量化了领土质量对Beta行为的影响，并测试了解释破坏性选择发生的三个互补假说：遗传可变性、表型可塑性和不可预测环境中的更好对冲。该项目利用动物模型对纯种雄性动物的行为史进行量化，从而对相加遗传变异进行量化。通过测量条件、应激反应和端粒(染色体末端的重复核苷酸，暗示为生理状态的生物指标)之间的关系，研究个体表型对生活史和合作的影响。衡量终生繁殖成功的标准将有助于了解合作者是否减少了终生生殖产出的差异。该项目将在现场、实验室和分析技术方面培训一名博士后研究员、至少一名研究生和15名研究生。这个项目提供了对延迟的直接利益的合作的功能和对行为表型的潜在的破坏性选择的力量的洞察。这项研究的所有数据将在佛罗里达州立大学存档，与出版物相关的元数据将在Dryad.org上存档。此外，还将通过作为马纳金研究协调网络的一部分开发的史密森学会的数据储存库访问数据库。