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The role of decision accuracy in the evolution of niche width

决策准确性在生态位宽度演变中的作用

基本信息

批准号：
NE/H015469/1
负责人：
Colin Tosh
金额：
$ 67.74万
依托单位：
University of York
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2010
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2010 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FH015469%2F1
关键词：
role decision accuracy evolution niche

项目摘要

Why are some animals generalists and others specialists? Humans are the ultimate generalists, eating thousands of different types of food and making a living in a thousand different ways. Some species of fly are quite the opposite, however, and will spend their entire life living on one single species of plant. The advantages of generalisation seem obvious: an animal that can use everything should have no problems finding food or somewhere to live. The reasons why many millions of economically important animal species such as plant eating insects and many disease-causing parasites are so specialised, however, is less clear. These issues are important because the level of specialisation of an animal is a key factor in its ability to survive environmental change. Recently it has been suggested that specialisation may evolve to avoid confusion. Just as a person interested in sports searching a cluttered TV schedule might focus only on the word 'sport' and filter-out all other information, it is reasoned that an insect flying over a cluttered field of plants might try to focus on a smaller number of plants and become a specialist. Most experimental studies conducted so far do indeed indicate that specialists find it easier to locate and select suitable resources. I recently published a computer modelling study that suggests the conditions in nature in which this neural limitations hypothesis ('specialising to avoid confusion') could work are just the ones actually found in nature. The purpose of this fellowship is to establish just how important the neural limitations hypothesis is in the evolution of specialist animal lifestyles. My published computer model consists of a virtual world where animals search a cluttered environment for appropriate resources using eyes and a sensory system. I train the virtual animals using natural selection to become more specialised and then determine whether their nervous systems become less confused. I will reconstruct this model, this time including virtual noses instead of virtual eyes to look for resources. Modelling smell is important as most specialised animals actually sniff out food rather than looking for it. A 'smell' is also commonly a more complex and confusing signal than a 'sight' and so I predict that the neural limitations hypothesis is especially likely to be important in animals that use smell to locate resources. I will test this prediction with my model and then check to see that I can reproduce my model predictions in a real living system by recreating model simulations in a laboratory microcosm (a 'little world' in the laboratory) using the fruit fly, Drosophila, an animal that uses smell to find food. I will then take the insights I have gained from my computer model of smell and feed these into a more traditional class of model called an evolutionary genetic model that contains assumptions about the genetics of specialisation. This will tell me whether the neural limitations mechanism can drive the specialisation process to completion and even split populations into new species. The project will ultimately help us to better understand specialisation and how animals respond to environmental change. It could also help to protect crops against pests. Intercropping (planting more that one type of crop plant together in a field) is an increasingly popular agricultural method because it appears to lessen pest insect attacks. This reduction in attack could be due to the confusion pests experience in a more complex field environment. By studying how animals become confused we may be able to design intercropping strategies to even better confuse pests and so protect crops in a totally environmentally friendly way.

为什么有些动物是多面手，而有些动物是专家？人类是终极多面手，吃成千上万种不同的食物，以一千种不同的方式谋生。然而，有些种类的苍蝇恰恰相反，它们一生都生活在一种单一的植物上。泛化的好处似乎是显而易见的：一种可以使用一切的动物应该没有找到食物或栖身之地的问题。然而，为什么数百万种重要的经济动物物种，如食草昆虫和许多致病寄生虫如此专门化，原因还不太清楚。这些问题很重要，因为动物的专门化程度是其在环境变化中生存能力的关键因素。最近，有人提出，专业化可能会演变，以避免混乱。就像一个对体育运动感兴趣的人在杂乱的电视节目安排中搜索可能只关注“运动”一词而过滤掉所有其他信息一样，一只昆虫飞过杂乱的植物园，可能会试图专注于较少数量的植物，然后成为专家。到目前为止进行的大多数实验研究确实表明，专家发现更容易找到和选择合适的资源。我最近发表的一项计算机模型研究表明，在自然界中，这种神经局限性假说(专门为避免混淆)可能起作用的条件正是在自然界中实际发现的条件。这项奖学金的目的是要确定神经限制假说在专业动物生活方式的进化中有多重要。我发表的计算机模型由一个虚拟世界组成，动物们用眼睛和感官系统在杂乱的环境中寻找合适的资源。我使用自然选择来训练虚拟动物，让它们变得更加专业化，然后确定它们的神经系统是否变得不那么混乱。我将重建这个模型，这一次包括虚拟鼻子而不是虚拟眼睛来寻找资源。气味模型很重要，因为大多数特殊动物实际上是闻食物，而不是寻找食物。“气味”通常也是一种比“视觉”更复杂、更令人困惑的信号，因此我预测，神经限制假说在利用气味来定位资源的动物身上尤其重要。我将用我的模型测试这一预测，然后检查我是否可以通过使用果蝇在实验室的微观世界(实验室的一个小世界)中重新创建模型模拟，在真实的生物系统中重现我的模型预测。果蝇是一种用气味寻找食物的动物。然后，我将把我从计算机嗅觉模型中获得的洞察力输入到一类更传统的模型中，称为进化遗传模型，该模型包含关于专业化的遗传学假设。这将告诉我，神经限制机制是否能够推动特化过程完成，甚至将种群分裂成新的物种。该项目最终将帮助我们更好地理解专门化以及动物如何对环境变化做出反应。它还有助于保护农作物免受虫害的侵袭。间作(在一块田里同时种植一种以上的作物)是一种越来越受欢迎的农业方法，因为它似乎可以减少害虫的攻击。攻击量的减少可能是由于害虫在更复杂的田间环境中经历的混乱。通过研究动物是如何变得困惑的，我们可能能够设计出间作策略，从而更好地迷惑害虫，从而以一种完全环保的方式保护作物。