Écologie évolutive des grands mammifères dans un environnement variable - Evolutionary ecology of large mammals in a changing environment

àcologie évolutive des grands mammifères dans unenvironmental Variable - 大型哺乳动物在不断变化的环境中的进化生态学

• 批准号: 105509-2009
• 负责人: FestaBianchet, Marco
• 金额: $ 6.05万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=521953
• 关键词: cologie; volutive; des; grands; mammif

Individual differences affect population growth, the evolution of reproductive strategies and the ecological consequences of environmental change and human exploitation. My research on wild mammals quantifies variation in individual reproductive success, survival and physical characteristics, identifies the sources of that variation and explores its effects on population dynamics. My research group combines theories and methods from ecology and evolution to understand how animals react to changing environments, including changes due to human activities and exploitation. Our primary technique is lifetime monitoring of marked individuals, with detailed information on sex, age, pedigree, genotype, size, growth, reproductive success, social behavior and survival. Study species include bighorn sheep, mountain goats, eastern grey kangaroos, caribou, chamois and brown bears. Bighorn sheep at Ram Mountain have been affected by trophy hunting, and loss of genetic variability may have depressed population growth. Sheep from another population were recently introduced to attempt a genetic rescue. This experiment, combined with more restrictive hunting regulations, will explore if changes in the genetic make-up of the population will influence its dynamics. I will examine how age, size, heterozygosity and social behavior affect the reproductive success of male bighorn sheep and kangaroos. Students will analyze decades of records of annual horn growth for thousands of harvested Stone's sheep from BC and chamois from Italy to determine how hunter selectivity, weather and other variables affect age- and sex-specific horn growth and survival. I will experimentally study the costs of reproduction in female kangaroos in collaboration with an ongoing program of artificial contraception, and examine the ecological causes and consequences of variation in litter size in brown bears. My research has important implications for conservation. It provides clues to changes in population size and structure, and long-term data to assess the impacts of global change and of management decisions on the ecology and evolution of animal populations.

个体差异影响人口增长、生殖策略的演变以及环境变化和人类开发的生态后果。我对野生哺乳动物的研究量化了个体繁殖成功、生存和身体特征的变化，确定了这种变化的来源，并探讨了它对种群动态的影响。我的研究小组结合了生态学和进化论的理论和方法，以了解动物如何对不断变化的环境做出反应，包括人类活动和开发造成的变化。我们的主要技术是对被标记的个体进行终生监测，包括性别、年龄、血统、基因型、体型、生长、繁殖成功率、社会行为和生存等详细信息。研究物种包括大角羊、山羊、东部灰袋鼠、北美驯鹿、羚羊和棕熊。公羊山的大角羊受到战利品狩猎的影响，遗传变异的丧失可能抑制了种群的增长。最近，来自另一个种群的绵羊被引入，试图进行基因拯救。这个实验，结合更严格的狩猎规定，将探索种群基因组成的变化是否会影响其动态。我将研究年龄、体型、杂合度和社会行为如何影响雄性大角羊和袋鼠的繁殖成功。学生们将分析几十年来来自不列颠哥伦比亚省的数千只收获的斯通羊和意大利的岩羚羊的年角生长记录，以确定猎人的选择、天气和其他变量如何影响年龄和性别特异性角的生长和存活。我将与一个正在进行的人工避孕项目合作，通过实验研究雌性袋鼠的繁殖成本，并研究棕熊产仔数变化的生态原因和后果。我的研究对环境保护有重要意义。它提供了种群规模和结构变化的线索，以及评估全球变化和管理决策对动物种群生态和进化的影响的长期数据。