Evolution in stage structured populations

生命周期阶段是生物体普遍存在的特征。从绿藻的细胞分裂阶段，到成虫的卵、幼虫、蛹和有翅成虫阶段，这些阶段代表着生物体生命中不同的生物点，具有不同的资源需求和不同的生活史特征(即出生、死亡和发育速度)。正如我们开始了解的那样，种群中的这种‘阶段结构’可以对生物动力学产生影响，这与管理、保护和理解这些种群对环境变化的长期反应有关。我的研究旨在开发一个从生物体生活史到生态和进化动力学的预测性联系。我使用了理论生物学和实验生物学的交叉学科方法，其中包括开发数学模型，这些模型在个人规模和群体规模上都进行了实验测试。在这笔赠款中，我们将推进我们对阶段性种群进化的理解。特别是，我们将研究种群动态如何影响生活史进化，进而研究进化对生态动力学的影响。我们的实验将使用两个具有阶段结构生活史的生物系统，但它们的进化过程不同：i)病原体-淡水浮游动物-藻类系统和ii)陆生甲虫-豆类资源系统。HQP将接受数学生物学和实验生物学相结合的培训，这将使他们获得医学、研究(政府和学术)、政策和环境咨询等职业所需的技能。结构化系统在自然界中很常见。其中一些系统在经济和社会重要领域具有重要意义，例如红三文鱼的动态、山松甲虫的侵扰、云杉芽孢虫的暴发、鳕鱼种群的管理。我们研究的贡献将是开发一个理论框架，用于理解结构系统中的进化，该框架可能适用于一系列生物系统，并已在实验中进行测试。

Life cycle stages are a ubiquitous feature of organisms. From stages of cell division in green algae, to the stages of egg, larvae, pupae and winged adults in moths, these stages represent functionally different biological points in an organism's life with different resource needs and different life history traits (i.e., birth, death and development rates). As we are beginning to understand, such 'stage-structure' in a population can have an impact on biological dynamics that is relevant to management, conservation and understanding the long-term response of these populations to environmental change. My research aims to develop a predictive link from organism life histories to ecological & evolutionary dynamics. I use an interdisciplinary approach of theoretical and experimental biology, which involves developing mathematical models that are experimentally tested at both the individual-scale and population-scale. In this grant, we will advance our understanding of evolution in stage-structured populations. In particular, we will study how population dynamics influence life history evolution and-in turn-the impact evolution has on ecological dynamics. Our experiments will use two biological systems with stage-structured life histories, but that differ in their evolutionary processes: i) a pathogen-freshwater zooplankton-algae system and ii) a terrestrial beetle-bean resource system. HQP will receive training at the interface of mathematical biology and experimental biology, which gives them skills that are in demand for careers in medicine, research (government and academic), policy and environmental consulting. Structured systems are common in nature. Some of the systems are important in economically and socially important areas, such as the dynamics of sockeye salmon, infestations of mountain pine beetles, outbreaks of spruce budworm, management of cod stocks. The contribution of our research will be the development of a theoretical framework for understanding evolution in structured systems that is likely applicable to a range of biological systems, and which has been tested experimentally.