Mating strategies in changing environments

研究背景性选择是一种强大的力量，推动着进化的快速变化。性选择通常在交配后继续，当雌性与多个雄性交配时，产生精子竞争和神秘的雌性选择（统称为“交配后性选择”PCSS）。PCSS倾向于在交配时策略性地分配射精的雄性。例如，在一个示例中，为了获得更高的父权份额，当雄性意识到其配偶与竞争对手交配的风险增加时，它们可能会增加精子转移。了解射精策略及其在PCSS中的作用是该领域的主要目标。然而，大多数研究都是在良性实验室条件下进行的。在自然界中，动物会经历压力，例如食物短缺，疾病爆发和恶劣的天气条件。这些压力有可能改变雄性在交配时传递的内容，以及雌性的反应方式，从而形成最佳策略和PCSS的操作。目标总体目标：检查的作用，环境压力对男性射精分配和PCSS的后果在果蝇fruit flies.Objectives：在两种性别，测试男性精子和精液分配在交配的影响，和由此产生的亲子关系的结果，ofa）营养限制B）infectionc）温度应力新颖性和时效性我们目前知道，PCSS是普遍的。然而，一个常见的脱节是男性策略之间的联系，并由此产生的父权结果，这要么是没有衡量，或结果是不一致的。我们的想法是，实验室研究中通常使用的非自然良性条件掩盖了自然界中有益的适应。现在需要的是测试是否暴露于压力源（在两性中）将揭示男性转移和他们获得的父权份额之间的更强联系。这就是这个项目要做的，为性选择领域迈出新的一步，并将其与全球变化联系起来。

BackgroundSexual selection is a potent force that drives rapid evolutionary change. Sexual selection often continues after mating, when females mate with multiple males, generating sperm competition and cryptic female choice (collectively "post-copulatory sexual selection" PCSS). PCSS favours males that strategically allocate ejaculates at mating. E.g., to achieve a higher paternity share, males may boost sperm transfer when they sense a heightened risk that their mates will copulate with rival males. Understanding ejaculate strategies and their role in PCSS is a major goal in the field. However, most studies are conducted under benign lab conditions. In nature, animals will experience stressors, e.g. food shortages, disease outbreaks and adverse weather conditions. These stresses have the potential to alter what males transfer at mating, and how females respond, shaping optimal strategies and the operation of PCSS. ObjectivesOverall Aim: Examine the roles of environmental stressors on male ejaculate allocation and the consequences for PCSS in Drosophila fruit flies.Objectives: in both sexes, to test the effects on male sperm and seminal fluid allocation at mating, and resulting paternity outcomes, ofa) nutritional restriction b) infectionsc) temperature stressNovelty and TimelinessWe currently understand that PCSS is widespread. However, a common disconnect is the link between male strategies, and the resulting paternity outcomes, which are either not measured, or results are inconsistent. Our idea is that the unnaturally benign conditions commonly used in lab studies mask adaptations that would be beneficial in nature. What is needed now is to test whether exposure to stressors (in both sexes) will reveal a stronger link between what males transfer, and the paternity share they achieve. This is what this project will do, forging a novel step forward for the field of sexual selection, and linking it with global change.