Predators around: should I stay or should I go? Mum knows it. Role of maternal effect in an adaptive dispersal decision.

周围的掠夺者：我应该留下还是应该走？

• 批准号: 251606414
• 负责人: Dr. Oscar Brusa
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Laboratoire Evolution et Diversite Biologique
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Fellowships
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/251606414?language=en
• 关键词: Predators; around; should; stay; go

Animal dispersal is the movement of individuals away from their previous living habitat. This apparently simple phenomenon has important consequences over a series of key ecological processes and, ultimately, on species persistence. Indeed, by means of dispersal, animals find suitable habitats within the modern heterogeneous and changeable landscapes. Dispersal is an individual decision, over the balance between benefits and costs of moving, which varies in relation to individual phenotype and ecological context. Facing the same local conditions individuals will disperse differently in order to maximize their survival and reproductive success.The evaluation of vital environmental factors, such as predation risk, may prove difficult, particularly in species in which dispersal is carried out mostly by juveniles. To this respect, the predator cues received by the mother during relevant reproductive events represent a vital source of information for the newborns. Therefore, natural selection should favour females that are able to use such information on the natal environment to fine-tune the dispersal tendencies of their offspring. This maternal regulation may occur, a fortiori, in viviparous vertebrates, because of the close contact between mother and fetus during pregnancy. Predator-induced maternal effect would thus influence offspring dispersal decisions, facilitating their adaptation to the local predatory environment. This project aims at clarifying, if pregnant common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) use predation risk cues to influence the dispersal tendencies and overall phenotype of their offspring. I will test these hypotheses, 1) manipulating perceived predation risk in both mothers and offspring and 2) measuring offspring dispersal, growth, survival and reproduction in a highly realistic semi-natural setting. This is the first empirical study of maternal influence over offspring adaptive predation-dependent dispersal in a vertebrate.

动物迁徙是指个体离开其先前生活的栖息地。这一看似简单的现象对一系列关键的生态过程产生了重要影响，并最终影响到物种的持久性。事实上，通过分散的方式，动物在现代异质和多变的景观中找到了合适的栖息地。迁徙是一个个体的决定，平衡迁徙的收益和成本，这与个体的表型和生态环境有关。面对相同的当地条件，个体将以不同的方式分散，以最大化它们的生存和繁殖成功。评估重要的环境因素，如捕食风险，可能被证明是困难的，特别是在主要由幼体进行分散的物种中。在这方面，母亲在相关生殖活动期间收到的捕食者线索对新生儿来说是一个重要的信息来源。因此，自然选择应该有利于能够利用这些关于出生环境的信息来微调其后代的扩散倾向的雌性。这种母性调节可能在胎生脊椎动物中发生，尤其是在胎生脊椎动物中，因为怀孕期间母亲和胎儿之间的密切接触。因此，捕食者诱导的母体效应将影响后代的扩散决定，促进它们适应当地的捕食环境。该项目旨在澄清怀孕的普通蜥蜴(Zootoca Vivipara)是否使用捕食风险线索来影响其后代的扩散倾向和整体表型。我将测试这些假设，1)操纵母亲和后代的感知捕食风险，2)在高度现实的半自然环境中测量后代的扩散、生长、存活和繁殖。这是第一次关于母体对脊椎动物后代适应性捕食依赖的扩散的影响的实证研究。