Sex, Sperm and Society. Insights into the evolutionary potential of sexual conflict in insects: a fundamental question in evolutionary biology

性、精子和社会。

• 批准号: DP0770050
• 负责人: Prof Boris Baer
• 金额: $ 59.55万
• 依托单位: The University of Western Australia
• 依托单位国家: 澳大利亚
• 项目类别: Discovery Projects
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 澳大利亚
• 起止时间: 2007-03-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/Web/Grants/DP0770050
• 关键词: Sex; Sperm; Society.; Insights; into

Social insects are biologically and economically important species. Honeybees or stingless bees are used for crop pollination and honey production and invasive ants or termites are severe pest species causing economic damage. Part of the biological success of social insects is based on the capability to produce colonies with many workers although colonies typically contain only one or very few reproductives. Consequently, colony success is bound to queen fertility and studying social insect reproduction can therefore optimize breeding regimes of species of interest or offer new possibilities to control pest species. Detailed information on sperm form and function will provide pioneering insights into the complexity of sexual reproduction.

群居昆虫是具有生物学和经济意义的重要物种。蜜蜂或无刺蜜蜂用于农作物授粉和蜂蜜生产，入侵蚂蚁或白蚁是严重的有害物种，会造成经济损失。群居昆虫在生物学上取得成功的部分基础是，能够与许多工蚁一起繁衍后代，尽管繁殖体通常只有一个或很少。因此，蜂群的成功必然会带来女王的繁衍，因此，研究群居昆虫的繁殖可以优化感兴趣物种的繁殖制度，或为控制害虫物种提供新的可能性。有关精子形态和功能的详细信息将为有性繁殖的复杂性提供开创性的见解。