The role of mating systems in plasticity & divergence across variable environments

进化生物学的一个主要目标是了解影响新特征的发展以及种群和物种分化的因素-生物多样性的产生。与交配成功相关的性状往往是个体成功的关键，因此也是适应性进化的整体模式的关键。但是，当影响个体交配成功的因素在空间和时间上发生变化时，进化过程是如何对这些因素做出反应的，这一点还没有得到很好的理解。不同的物种可能会对环境或社会条件的地理或季节变化表现出不同的反应，这取决于它们的交配生态。因此，了解环境变化和行为生态学之间的这种相互作用可能是解释物种分布、分化和入侵潜力差异的关键。 这里提出的研究将在Latrodectus（黑寡妇）属的蜘蛛中研究这些问题。我将研究关键生殖性状的表型变异，重点从细粒度的生态和社会功能到进化模式。这将为理解自然条件如何塑造多样性做出重大贡献。这些研究也将代表在医学上重要的群体中识别潜在侵袭性因素的重大进展。可塑性影响对波动的当地条件的适应性，并在某些模型下，预测物种入侵的变化。黑寡妇蜘蛛毒液对人类来说是一种强效的神经毒素，这类蜘蛛包括几种高度入侵的物种，其范围目前正在扩大。

A major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the factors that influence the development of novel traits and the divergence of populations and species - the generation of biodiversity. Traits related to mating success are often key to the success of individuals and therefore to overall patterns of adaptive evolution. But it is not well understood how evolutionary processes respond to factors that influence individual mating success when these factors vary in space and time. Different species may show distinct responses to geographic or seasonal variation in environmental or social conditions, depending on their mating ecology. Understanding such interactions between environmental variation and behavioural ecology may therefore be key to explaining differences in species distributions, divergence and invasive potential. The studies proposed here will examine these issues in the spiders of the genus Latrodectus (black widows). I will study phenotypic variation in critical reproductive traits with focus ranging from fine-grained ecological and social function to evolutionary patterns. This will make a significant contribution to understanding how natural conditions shape diversity. These studies will also represent significant progress in identification of factors underlying invasiveness in a medically important group. Plasticity affects adaptability to fluctuating local conditions, and under some models, predicts variation in species invasiveness. Black widow spider venom is a potent neurotoxin to humans, and this group includes several highly invasive species whose range is currently expanding.