CAREER: Empirical Tests of the Fundamental Theorems of Evolution and Natural Selection

职业：进化和自然选择基本定理的实证检验

• 批准号: 2240063
• 负责人: Matthew Wolak
• 金额: $ 126.8万
• 依托单位: Auburn University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-15 至 2028-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240063&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Empirical; Tests; Fundamental; Theorems

This project will be the first to experimentally test the long-standing theory that change in average individual fitness within a population due to the effects of natural selection sets the rate by which traits of organisms evolve and populations adapt to their environments. Darwinian fitness, or individual survival and reproduction, is a foundational concept in biology. Scientists have hypothesized that the rate at which a population adapts is predicted by the genetic inheritance of individual fitness. Such a hypothesis could enable the forecasting of evolution and population dynamics, allowing scientists the ability to predict how natural populations respond to future environmental changes and if populations will persist or go extinct. The goals of this project are to establish a research program to (1) improve evolutionary predictions and (2) integrate education programs that train students and teachers to conduct hypothesis-driven research. The education component will teach high school teachers and students about evolution by natural selection while training them to conduct their own scientific research through independent projects that will further the project’s overall research goals. These plans target underrepresented minority students at the high school and undergraduate levels and seek to train high school teachers from rural Alabama. Through involvement of several thousand students from rural Alabama, this project’s activities address basic science literacy, engagement in STEM, and development of STEM educators and educational resources.Fisher’s fundamental theorem of natural selection expresses the rate of population mean fitness change due to natural selection as a function of the additive genetic variance for fitness. The fundamental theorem of evolution is a broader statement about fitness change that includes the response due to natural selection and additional forces acting on population mean fitness. Despite a long history of theoretical development, there has been little empirical testing of either the fundamental theorems of evolution or natural selection. This project is a first-of-its-kind study to experimentally manipulate additive genetic variance for fitness among replicate populations of seed beetles (Callosobruchus maculatus) to test the theory that this genetic variance is the key quantity predicting the rate of change in population mean fitness. The project will then connect estimates of genetic variance in fitness with genetic covariance quantifying environmental deterioration for fitness arising from conspecific interactions. The impacts of conspecific competition and sexual conflict on fitness evolution address a long-standing, but unresolved debate whether sexual selection provides net costs or benefits to populations.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.

这个项目将是第一个对长期存在的理论进行实验测试的项目，该理论认为，由于自然选择的影响，种群中平均个体适应度的变化决定了生物特征进化的速度，以及种群适应环境的速度。达尔文的适应性，或个体生存和繁殖，是生物学的一个基本概念。科学家们假设，种群的适应速度是由个体适应性的基因遗传来预测的。这样的假设可以预测进化和种群动态，使科学家能够预测自然种群如何应对未来的环境变化，以及种群是否会持续存在或灭绝。该项目的目标是建立一个研究计划，以(1)改进进化预测，(2)整合教育计划，培训学生和教师进行假设驱动的研究。教育部分将向高中教师和学生讲授自然选择的进化，同时训练他们通过独立的项目进行自己的科学研究，这将进一步推动项目的总体研究目标。这些计划针对高中和本科阶段未被充分代表的少数民族学生，并寻求培训阿拉巴马州农村地区的高中教师。通过数千名来自阿拉巴马州农村的学生的参与，该项目的活动涉及基础科学素养，STEM参与以及STEM教育者和教育资源的发展。费雪的自然选择基本定理将自然选择导致的种群平均适合度变化率表示为适合度的可加性遗传方差的函数。进化的基本定理是关于适应性变化的一个更广泛的陈述，它包括自然选择和作用于种群平均适应性的额外力量的反应。尽管理论发展的历史很长，但对进化或自然选择的基本定理几乎没有经验检验。本项目首次通过实验方法对黄斑斑斑瓢虫（Callosobruchus maculatus）重复种群中适应性的加性遗传变异进行研究，以验证遗传变异是预测种群平均适应性变化率的关键量的理论。然后，该项目将把适应度的遗传方差估计与量化同种相互作用引起的适应度的环境恶化的遗传协方差联系起来。同种竞争和性冲突对适应性进化的影响解决了一个长期存在但尚未解决的争论，即性选择对种群是净成本还是净收益。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。