NSF-BSF: Natural selection on the social interactions that mediate collective behavior: ecological pressures and genomic architecture

该项目研究了进化如何塑造对不断变化的条件的适应力。蚁群在没有中央控制的情况下运作。 蚂蚁利用短暂的局部相互作用，使蚁群能够适应不断变化的环境。该项目将继续进行一项独特的长期研究，跟踪美国西南部沙漠中30多年的收获蚁群，包括暴雨和长期干旱，现在似乎正在结束。蜂群调节觅食活动，以应对食物供应和水分胁迫的变化。 殖民地在调节觅食的方式上有所不同;有些殖民地比其他殖民地更有可能在干燥的天气里限制觅食活动，以节约用水。该项目将使用遗传学方法来发现行为不同的群体之间的遗传差异，以了解觅食行为的调节是否从亲本遗传到后代群体，并研究群体行为如何与后代群体数量的繁殖成功相关。这项工作将展示自然选择如何塑造群体的集体行为，以及选择如何应对不断变化的干旱条件。集体行为发生在生物组织的各个层面，从细胞到动物。它在没有中央控制的情况下运作，利用当地的相互作用，总的来说产生一个集体的结果。对集体行为的自然选择，就像对任何性状的自然选择一样，与生态压力有关。该项目研究自然种群中集体行为的演变，将个人和集体水平联系起来，集体行为的选择压力如何在不断变化的生态条件下发生变化。该项目借鉴并延续了对美国西南部沙漠中红收获蚁（Pogonomyrmex acidatus）种群的人口统计学、行为、生态学和进化的30年研究，并开发了一个数据库，使这些数据可用于分析。以前的研究表明，沙漠收获蚁群调节觅食活动，以管理水压力，利用巢内外出和返回觅食之间的短暂嗅觉相互作用。殖民地在如何调节觅食活动方面各不相同，以前在干旱条件下进行的工作表明，这与后代殖民地的殖民地繁殖成功有关。该项目研究了不断变化的生态条件，特别是降雨，如何导致选择压力的变化，将觅食活动和繁殖成功联系起来。将使用简化代表性基因组测序来鉴定亲本-后代菌落对，从而测量后代菌落数量的繁殖成功率。研究了觅食调节的遗传力从亲本群体到子代群体的遗传力。将进行全基因组关联研究，以调查这种集体行为变异背后的遗传结构。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为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。

The project investigates how evolution shapes resilience to changing conditions. Ant colonies operate without central control. Ants use brief local interactions that in the aggregate, allow colonies to adjust to changing conditions. The project will continue a unique long-term study tracking a population of harvester ant colonies in the desert of the southwest US over 30 years, including periods of heavy rainfall and a long drought that now appears to be ending. Colonies regulate foraging activity in response to changes in food availability and water stress. Colonies differ in how they regulate foraging; some are more likely than others to restrict foraging activity in dry weather so as to conserve water. The project will use genetic methods to find genetic differences among colonies that differ in behavior, to learn whether the regulation of foraging behavior is inherited from parent to offspring colonies, and to examine how colony behavior is associated with its reproductive success in numbers of offspring colonies. This work will show how natural selection is shaping the collective behavior of colonies, and how selection can shift in response to changing drought conditions.Collective behavior occurs at every level of biological organization, from cells to animals. It operates without central control, using local interactions that in the aggregate produce a collective outcome. Natural selection on collective behavior, as on any trait, acts in relation to ecological pressures. The project investigates the evolution of collective behavior in a natural population, linking the individual and collective levels, how selection pressure on collective behavior shifts in changing ecological conditions. The project draws on and continues a 30-year study of the demography, behavior, ecology and evolution of a population of colonies of the red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) in the desert of southwestern US, and develops a database that makes these data available for analysis. Previous work shows that desert harvester ant colonies regulate foraging activity to manage water stress, using brief olfactory interactions between outgoing and returning foragers inside the nest. Colonies vary in how they regulate foraging activity, and previous work conducted in drought conditions, shows this is associated with colony reproductive success in offspring colonies. The project examines how changing ecological conditions, especially rainfall, lead to shifts in the selection pressures that link foraging activity and reproductive success. Reduced representation genomic sequencing will be used to identify parent-offspring pairs of colonies, and thus measure reproductive success in number of offspring colonies. The heritability from parent to offspring colonies of the regulation of foraging will be investigated. A genome-wide association study will be conducted to investigate the genetic architecture underlying this variation in collective behavior.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.