NSFGEO-NERC: Integrating Individual Personality Differences in the Evolutionary Ecology of a Seabird in the Rapidly Changing Polar Environment

第一部分：非技术性描述：该奖项代表了美国国家科学基金会和英国自然环境研究理事会（NERC）研究人员之间的合作地球科学研究努力，每个国家的努力由各自的国家资助（亲爱的同事信NSF 16-132）。该研究将侧重于了解南大洋流浪信天翁种群的行为，生态和进化之间的联系，以应对全球气候变化和自然资源的开发。动物对全球变化最直接的反应通常是行为，这项工作将提供一个更全面的了解如何差异个别鸟类行为影响进化和适应人口在不断变化的环境。信天翁的个性，生活史特征和人口动态的表征收集了很长一段时间，将用于制定强大的预测物种的持久性，面对未来的全球变化。该项目的成果将纳入南大洋濒危物种的养护和管理决策。这项工作还将用于提供各级具体的研究培训，包括博士后学者，研究生和K-12学生。它还将利用动画、公开讲座、印刷和网络媒体，支持对公众进行关于人类活动对我们的极地生态系统的影响的教育。第二部分：技术描述过去的研究表明，动物个体的个性是一个连续的行为，例如一些个体总是比其他人更具侵略性，更具探索性和更大胆。一个种群中的人格和觅食行为类型的表型分布是如何通过生态（人口和表型可塑性）和进化（遗传性）过程来创造和维持的，这仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。人格特质的差异决定了个体如何获得资源，以及如何将这些资源分配给繁殖和生存。虽然一些研究发现不同的觅食行为或繁殖性能的人格类型之间，没有建立觅食行为和生活史（包括繁殖和生存，以及它们的协变）在全球变化的背景下的个性差异之间的联系。此外，觅食行为的可塑性没有被认为是生活节奏综合征，这可能会阻碍我们找到个性和生活史权衡之间的协变。本项目将填补这些知识空白，并建立一个生态进化模型，研究个体个性与觅食可塑性、个性与觅食行为的遗传性、生活史策略、变化环境中的种群动态之间的复杂相互作用（渔业和气候）使用一个长期数据库，800只带有标签的流浪信天翁海鸟（Diomedea exulans）在南大洋繁殖，具有明确的个体个性和生活史特征。将利用气专委大气-海洋全球环流模式的气候预测来预测未来全球变化条件下的人口结构。具体来说，研究小组将（1）描述生活史策略的差异，沿着性格的害羞-大胆连续体和不同的环境条件;（2）发展觅食努力和性格的表型可塑性之间的联系;（3）描述性格和觅食行为的遗传性;（4）建立一个随机的生态-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响评审标准。

Part I: Nontechnical description: This award represents a collaborative geoscience research effort between US NSF and UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) researchers with efforts in each nation funded by their respective countries (Dear Colleague Letter NSF 16-132). The research will focus on understanding the links between behavior, ecology, and evolution in a Southern Ocean wandering albatross population in response to global changes in climate and in exploitation of natural resources. The most immediate response of animals to global change typically is behavioral, and this work will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how differences individual bird behavior affect evolution and adaptation for the population under changing environments. Characterization of albatross personality, life-history traits, and population dynamics collected over long time scales will be used to develop robust forecasting of species persistence in the face of future global changes. The results of this project will feed into conservation and management decisions for endangered Southern Ocean species. The work will also be used to provide specific research training at all levels, including a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and K-12 students. It will also support education for the public about impacts from human-induced activities on our polar ecosystems using animations, public lectures, printed and web media. Part II: Technical description Past research has shown that individual animal personalities range over a continuum of behavior, such that some individuals are consistently more aggressive, more explorative, and bolder than others. How the phenotypic distributions of personality and foraging behavior types within a population is created and maintained by ecological (demographic and phenotypic plasticity) and evolutionary (heritability) processes remain an open question. Differences in personality traits determine how individuals acquire resources and how they allocate these to reproduction and survival. Although some studies have found different foraging behaviors or breeding performances between personality types, none have established the link between personality differences in foraging behaviors and life histories (both reproduction and survival, and their covariations) in the context of global change. Furthermore, plasticity in foraging behaviors is not considered in the pace-of-life syndrome, which has potentially hampered our ability to find covariation between personality and life history trade-off. This project will fill these knowledge gaps and develop an eco-evolutionary model of the complex interactions among individual personality and foraging plasticity, heritability of personality and foraging behaviors, life history strategies, population dynamics in a changing environment (fisheries and climate) using a long-term database consisting of ~1,800 tagged wandering albatross seabirds (Diomedea exulans) with defined individual personalities and life history traits breeding in the Southern Ocean. Climate projections from IPCC atmospheric-oceanic global circulation models will be used to provide projections of population structure under future global change conditions. Specifically, the team will (1) characterize the differences in life history strategies along the shy-bold continuum of personalities and across environmental conditions; (2) develop the link between phenotypic plasticity in foraging effort and personality; (3) characterize the heritability of personality and foraging behaviors; (4) develop a stochastic eco-evolutionary model to predict population growth rates in a changing environment.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.