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The genetics of competition: does resource limitation constrain evolution?

竞争的遗传学：资源限制是否限制进化？

基本信息

批准号：
BB/G022976/2
负责人：
Alastair Wilson
金额：
$ 45.78万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FG022976%2F2
关键词：
genetics competition does resource limitation

项目摘要

Competition occurs among animals when resources (e.g., food, mates, space) are limited. Although their impacts on growth and reproduction have long interested population biologists, competitive interactions may also have profound, but largely unrecognised, implications for our understanding of how evolution works. This is because while we normally think of competition as arising from purely environmental effects (e.g. lack of food), its outcome (i.e., which animal 'wins') may depend critically on genes. This causes problems for biologists by breaking down the traditional separation of genetic and environmental effects which is the starting point for most studies of evolution. Competition can be thought of as an environmental effect, but we need to acknowledge that it is one with the potential to evolve in its own right. This possibility is not usually accounted for by the theory underpinning evolutionary studies, and may actually have enormous consequences for many fields of pure and applied research - from ecology and animal behaviour, to livestock breeding and the promotion of animal welfare. For example, imagine a gene that influences an animal's growth through effects on foraging - with some versions of the gene (termed 'alleles') making individuals better than average foragers, and therefore likely to grow faster. We might expect that selection of individuals carrying these alleles would result in evolution of faster growth. However, if food is limited, then a gene that increases one individual's growth by allowing it to dominate access to a resource, would actually cause other individuals to get less to eat, and therefore grow more slowly. Seen from this point of view, selection of faster growing individuals would lead to a more competitive environment which would act to counter (and possibly even reverse) our initial expectation that growth rate will increase. This type of process could impose limits on the extent to which traits respond to selection, either natural selection occurring in a wild animal population, or artificial selection being imposed by an animal breeder. Additionally, since competition often involves aggressive behaviours (e.g., animals fighting over a limited resource), any selection that inadvertently leads to a more competitive environment may also be detrimental to animal welfare. Although it is therefore clear that competition could have enormous implications for the evolution of resource-dependent traits, we currently have very little information about how widespread or large these effects actually are. While methodological limitations have restricted progress to date, a number of recently developed statistical approaches mean that these questions can now be addressed. I therefore propose to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the genetics of competition, assessing the role that it plays in shaping, and constraining the evolution of growth and other resource-limited traits. To do this I will take two approaches. Firstly I will perform a series of experiments on a laboratory population of fish (namely the green swordtail, Xiphophorus helleri). This will allow me to directly manipulate key variables such as food availability, the number of competing individuals, and relationships among competitors thereby testing several hypotheses that stem from theoretical predictions. Secondly, I will apply novel statistical methods to test for genetic variation in competitive ability in two commercial livestock populations (Atlantic salmon, chickens). Use of these two high quality data sets will complement the experimental work, and also allow a direct assessment of the applied potential for this direction of research.

当资源（例如，食物、伴侣、空间）是有限的。虽然它们对生长和繁殖的影响长期以来一直引起种群生物学家的兴趣，但竞争性相互作用也可能对我们理解进化如何运作产生深远但在很大程度上未被认识的影响。这是因为，虽然我们通常认为竞争纯粹是由环境影响（例如缺乏食物）引起的，但其结果（即，哪种动物“赢”）可能主要取决于基因。这打破了遗传和环境影响的传统分离，这是大多数进化研究的起点，这给生物学家带来了问题。竞争可以被认为是一种环境效应，但我们需要承认，竞争本身就有可能演变。这种可能性通常不会被进化研究的理论所解释，实际上可能会对许多纯理论和应用研究领域产生巨大的影响-从生态学和动物行为，到牲畜繁殖和促进动物福利。例如，想象一下一个基因通过对觅食的影响来影响动物的生长--该基因的某些版本（称为“等位基因”）使个体比普通觅食者更好，因此可能生长得更快。我们可以预期，对携带这些等位基因的个体的选择将导致更快生长的进化。然而，如果食物是有限的，那么一个基因通过允许它支配资源的获取来增加一个个体的生长，实际上会导致其他个体吃得更少，因此生长得更慢。从这个角度来看，选择成长更快的个体将导致一个更具竞争力的环境，这将抵消（甚至可能逆转）我们最初对增长率将增加的预期。这种类型的过程可能会限制性状对选择的反应程度，无论是野生动物种群中发生的自然选择，还是动物育种者施加的人工选择。此外，由于竞争往往涉及攻击性行为（例如，动物为争夺有限的资源而争斗），任何无意中导致竞争更加激烈的环境的选择也可能对动物福利有害。尽管竞争对资源依赖性状的进化有着巨大的影响，但我们目前对这些影响的范围和程度知之甚少。虽然方法上的局限性限制了迄今取得的进展，但最近开发的一些统计方法意味着这些问题现在可以得到解决。因此，我建议对竞争的遗传学进行全面的调查，评估它在塑造和限制增长和其他资源有限性状的演变中所起的作用。为此，我将采取两种方法。首先，我将对实验室种群的鱼类（即绿色剑尾鱼）进行一系列实验。这将使我能够直接操纵关键变量，如食物供应，竞争个体的数量，以及竞争者之间的关系，从而测试来自理论预测的几个假设。其次，我将应用新的统计方法来测试两个商业牲畜种群（大西洋鲑鱼，鸡）的竞争能力的遗传变异。使用这两个高质量的数据集将补充实验工作，并允许直接评估这一研究方向的应用潜力。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（10）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

Genetic analysis of life-history constraint and evolution in a wild ungulate population.

野生有蹄类动物种群生活史约束和进化的遗传分析。

DOI：
10.1086/664686
发表时间：
2012
期刊：
The American naturalist
影响因子：
0
作者：
Morrissey MB
通讯作者：
Morrissey MB

How integrated are behavioral and endocrine stress response traits? A repeated measures approach to testing the stress-coping style model.

DOI：
10.1002/ece3.1395
发表时间：
2015-02
期刊：
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
影响因子：
2.6
作者：
Boulton, Kay;Couto, Elsa;Grimmer, Andrew J.;Earley, Ryan L.;Canario, Adelino V. M.;Wilson, Alastair J.;Walling, Craig A.
通讯作者：
Walling, Craig A.

Competition as a source of constraint on life history evolution in natural populations.

竞争是自然种群生命史进化的制约因素。