Examining links between behaviour, plasticity and diversification under environmental heterogeneity using broadly distributed spider species

了解驱动和维持生物多样性的因素是当代生物学的一个关键问题，特别是当物种面临快速气候变化，栖息地破碎化和其他挑战生存的环境变化时。广泛了解生物体如何在各种尺度上对环境异质性作出反应，对于解决这些当代问题至关重要。一个可能具有预测能力的领域是可塑性的研究-生物体在可变的环境条件下如何以及何时改变性状表达。可塑性可以赋予人口弹性，尽管环境的挑战;允许生存在更广泛的条件下比否则是可能的，并提供足够的时间适应。对于不同形式的可塑性的进化有许多假设，这些假设已经在植物和少数模型系统中得到了全面的测试。然而，由于这些模型的分类范围有限，我们的理解受到阻碍。在这里，我提出的研究，将提供一个显着的飞跃，通过测试假设的适应性可塑性的进化类群，我过去的工作已经定义了生态和社会背景下的可塑性，并证明了在现场和实验室的实验研究的易处理性。我和我的研究人员将使用两种性食同类的“黑寡妇”蜘蛛（

Understanding factors that drive and maintain biodiversity is a critical issue in contemporary biology, particularly as species are exposed to rapid climate change, habitat fragmentation, and other environmental alterations that challenge survival. A broad understanding of how organisms respond to environmental heterogeneity at a variety of scales is essential for addressing these contemporary problems. One area that may have predictive power is the study of plasticity-- how and when organisms vary in trait expression under variable environmental conditions. Plasticity may confer resilience for populations despite environmental challenges; allowing survival under a wider range of conditions than would otherwise be possible, and providing sufficient time for adaptation. There are many hypotheses for the evolution of different forms of plasticity, and these have been comprehensively tested in plants and a handful of model systems. Our understanding is hampered however, by the limited taxonomic range of these models. Here I propose studies that will provide a significant leap in understanding by testing hypotheses for the evolution of adaptive plasticity in taxa for which my past work has defined the ecological and social contexts linked to plasticity, and demonstrated the tractability of experimental study in the field and lab. My research personnel and I will use two species of sexually cannibalistic ‘black widow’ spiders (