Collaborative Research: An Integrative Field and Biophysical Model of Thermal Stress, Physiological Performance, and Reproductive Fitness

动物在其地理范围的极端情况下会经历热应激。这种压力可能会因气候变化而加剧，特别是当地理范围跨越很大的纬度范围时。许多物种使用行为体温调节来缓解热应激。 然而，这些补偿行为是有代价的，因为它们需要动物放弃只能在炎热和紧张的栖息地中进行的关键行为。本研究调查这些生存/繁殖的权衡招潮蟹，小半陆栖蟹占据海岸线在热带和温带。雄性招潮蟹在炎热干燥的潮间带用视觉展示来吸引配偶，但必须定期撤退到凉爽潮湿的洞穴中补充水分和恢复。每次撤退到洞穴都需要停止交配行为。雄性定期从炎热的生殖区重新进食，补充水分和进食。这项研究将确定在当前和预测的未来条件下，使用实验和建模方法，在一个物种的地理范围内的温度调节和交配性能之间的权衡。最后，该项目将利用招潮蟹的研究成果，通过公众宣传活动和培训包括高中生在内的不同层次的学生，提高公众对科学的兴趣。热应激的行为补偿可能导致一个深刻的，但研究不足的权衡，因为体温调节行为是昂贵的。能量和温度调节成本将产生主要的生殖机会成本，这可能会减少交配成功率。这个项目的重点是与体温调节行为相关的错过交配机会的健身后果。这些错失的机会对于了解生理压力背景下的交配成功研究以及不同纬度的成本差异至关重要。了解相关的健身减少是至关重要的，以充分了解和预测气候变化对健身的后果，因为在低纬度地区的加热可能会截断交配的好处，由于热应力的成本增加。这项建议采取了综合的方法，结合实验室测量，操纵现场实验，生物物理建模，以检查健身的行为体温调节的后果。这项工作，以及由此产生的模型，将广泛适用于研究气候变化对ectotherms.This奖项的影响反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

Animals experience thermal stress at the extremes of their geographic range. This stress may be compounded by climate change, especially when the geographic range stretches over a large range of latitude. Many species use behavioral thermoregulation to ameliorate heat stress. However, these compensatory behaviors have a cost, as they require the animal to abandon critical behaviors that may only be performed in the hot and stressful habitat. This study investigates these survival/reproductive tradeoffs in fiddler crabs, small semi-terrestrial crabs that occupy shorelines in the tropics and temperate zones. Male fiddler crabs use visual displays to attract mates in the hot, dry intertidal zone, but must periodically retreat to a cool, moist burrow to rehydrate and recover. Each retreat to a burrow requires a cessation of mating behavior. Periodically the males rereat from the hot reproductive areas to rehydrate and feed. This study will determine the tradeoff between thermoregulation and mating performance across a species' geographic range, using both experimental and modeling approaches, under both current and predicted future conditions. Finally, the project will utilize the results of the research on fiddler crabs to increase public interest in science using public outreach activities and the training students at different levels including high school students. Behavioral compensation for thermal stress can lead to a profound but under-investigated tradeoff, as thermoregulatory behaviors are costly. Energetic and thermoregulation costs will generate major reproductive opportunity costs, which can reduce mating success. This project focuses on the fitness consequences of missed mating opportunities associated with thermoregulatory behaviors. These missed opportunities are crucial to understand in the study of mating success in the context of physiological stress and the differences in costs at different latitudes. Understanding the associated reductions in fitness are crucial to fully understand and predict the consequences of climate change on fitness, since heating in lower latitudes may truncate the benefit of mating owing to the increased cost of thermal stress. This proposal takes an integrative approach, combining laboratory measurements, manipulative field experiments, and biophysical modeling to examine the fitness consequences of behavioral thermoregulation. This work, and the resulting model, will be broadly applicable to the study of climate change impacts on ectotherms.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.