Personality drive: broad behavioral mechanisms as a substrate for variation in mate choice

这个项目使用了一个强大的动物模型，剑尾鱼，以了解学习和个性如何塑造个人如何选择他们的伴侣。 传统观点认为，动物-从人类到果蝇-选择“最佳”伴侣的基础是伴侣的活力和健康，但越来越多的研究表明，生殖决定在很大程度上取决于自己的个性，心理和经验。特别是，大胆和外向的人和动物倾向于寻找不同的伴侣，并且在求偶过程中的行为与害羞和内向的人和动物不同。 这部分可能与学习有关--外向的人从积极的奖励中学得更好，内向的人从消极的经历中学得更好。这个项目探讨了性格，学习和择偶之间的遗传和行为联系。 这是通过测试同一个体的择偶偏好、害羞和大胆以及学习能力来完成的，并通过使用基因组技术来寻找这些特征背后的共同遗传基础。 这项工作将帮助我们了解生殖决策如何随着环境的变化而变化，并推动新动物物种的起源。该项目将支持来自代表性不足群体的研究生和本科生。一个主要的重点是扩大正在进行的导师计划，重点是社区外展和高中生的高影响力的学习经验。在本项目中，高中生和大学生将在学年期间接受培训，担任以动物行为和当地自然历史为重点的初级STEM夏令营的辅导员，将他们的科学知识应用于吸引年轻学生。关于交配偏好的起源和维持的假设集中在他们对交配决策的适应价值上。越来越多的研究表明，与交配无关的偏见，特别是在感官边缘，可以塑造交配偏好。如果这些偏见是在不同的生态选择，这可以促进生殖隔离。这个项目的重点是交配偏好的种间差异是否可以从人格中出现，这是一套生态学上重要的行为特征。剑尾鱼种类剑尾鱼malinche和剑尾鱼birchmanni在交配偏好和个性特征上都有分歧。该项目旨在揭示人格、偏好发展和交配决策的共同机制。这将通过以下方式实现：（1）测量非性探索和风险规避行为、择偶模式和择偶偏好之间的表型相关性;（2）使用厌恶和食欲条件反应范式来评估人格和学习模式之间的关系;（3）描述性和非性环境中学习之间的关系;（4）利用杂交遗传系来阐明人格与偏好之间的遗传协方差，并确定候选基因组区域。 该项目将支持来自代表性不足群体的研究生和本科生。一个主要目标是扩大墨西哥中部CICHAZ外地站的一个既定导师方案，该方案目前侧重于社区外联和高中生的高影响力学习经验。根据目前的提议，高中和大学年龄的学生将在学年期间接受培训，担任以动物行为和当地自然历史为重点的初级STEM夏令营的辅导员，将他们的科学知识应用于吸引年轻学生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project uses a powerful animal model, swordtail fish, to understand how learning and personality shape how individuals choose their mates. Conventional wisdom holds that animals - from humans to fruit flies - choose the "best" partner based on that partner's vigor and health, but more and more work has shown that reproductive decisions are heavily shaped by one's own personality, psychology, and experiences. In particular, people and animals who are bold and extroverted tend to seek different mates and act differently during courtship than those who are shy and introverted. Part of this may have to do with learning - extroverts learn better from positive rewards, introverts learn better from negative experiences. This project explores the genetic and behavioral connections between personality, learning, and mate choice. This is done by testing mate preferences, shyness and boldness, and learning ability in the same individuals, and by using genomic technology to search for a common genetic basis underlying these features. This work will help us understand how reproductive decisions change with the environment and drive the origin of new animal species. The project will support graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups. A main focus is to expand an ongoing mentorship program focused on community outreach and high-impact learning experiences for high school students. In this project, high school and college-age students will be trained during the school year as counselors for an elementary-level STEM summer camp focused on animal behavior and local natural history, applying their science knowledge towards engaging younger students.Hypotheses about the origin and maintenance of mating preferences have focused on their adaptive value with respect to mating decisions. A growing body of work has shown that biases unrelated to mating, notably at the sensory periphery, can shape mating preferences. If these biases are under divergent ecological selection, this can facilitate reproductive isolation. This project focuses on whether interspecific differences in mating preferences can emerge from personality, an ecologically important suite of behavioral traits. The swordtail fish species Xiphophorus malinche and Xiphophorus birchmanni diverge in both mating preferences and personality traits. The proposed project seeks to unravel the common mechanisms underlying personality, preference development, and mating decisions. This will be accomplished by (1) measuring phenotypic correlations between non-sexual exploratory and risk-avoidance behavior, mate-sampling patterns, and mating preferences; (2) using aversive and appetitive conditioned-response paradigms to evaluate the relationship between personality and learning mode; (3) characterizing the relationship between learning in sexual and non-sexual contexts; and (4) using hybrid genetic lines to elucidate genetic covariance between personality and preference and identify candidate genomic regions. The project will support graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups. A primary objective is expansion of an established mentorship program out of the CICHAZ field station in central Mexico, which currently focuses on community outreach and high-impact learning experiences for high school students. Under the current proposal, high school and college-age students will be trained during the school year as counselors for an elementary-level STEM summer camp focused on animal behavior and local natural history, applying their science knowledge towards engaging younger students.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.