The role of biological interactions in the evolution of animal behavior

一些动物种群是由喜欢在不同栖息地定居的个体组成的（多态性）。另一些则是由个体根据栖息地调整自己的行为（可塑性）组成的。预测在什么情况下进化应该保持多态性和可塑性是具有挑战性的，因为生物会影响彼此的特征和适应性。我的目标是测试捕食者与猎物之间的相互作用和竞争是否会推动反捕食、社交和觅食行为的共同进化；确定相互作用如何促进对某些具有可塑性的栖息地偏好的共同进化；并评估竞争如何影响进化变化的速度。西方黑寡妇蜘蛛提供了一个难得的机会来实验验证我的假设。它们编织三维的网，保护蜘蛛免受黄蜂的捕食，并捕获猎物。我和我的研究小组将分析蛛网的特征如何影响蜘蛛对捕食者的脆弱性、觅食成功以及对昆虫猎物群落的影响。我们还将每年监测野生蜘蛛的一个子集，以估计它们的繁殖力，存活率和它们的网的特征之间的关系。我的研究小组还将确定蜘蛛选择栖息地所使用的线索，并评估栖息地偏好和可塑性对选择梯度的影响。实验室的工作将量化栖息地偏好和可塑性之间的遗传相关性。我们将描述蜘蛛如何调整其网的结构以应对竞争，并评估这些调整对觅食行为和饮食的影响。我们还将量化竞争如何影响网络结构的遗传性。这个项目整合了动物行为、生态学和进化的研究，以深入了解为什么一些种群表现出比其他种群更强的多态性或可塑性。因此，它将提供一些关于生物进化的见解，这对行为和社区生态学家以及进化生物学家来说非常重要。

Some animal populations are composed of individuals preferring to settle in distinct habitats (polymorphism). Other are instead composed of individuals adjusting their behaviour to their habitat (plasticity). It is challenging to predict under what circumstances evolution should maintain polymorphism and plasticity because organisms affect each other's characteristics and fitness. My objectives are to test whether predator-prey interactions and competition drive the coevolution of anti-predatory, social, and foraging behaviours; to determine how interactions can favor the coevolution of preferences for certain habitats with plasticity; and to assess how competition affects the pace of evolutionary change. Western black widow spiders offer a rare opportunity to test my hypotheses experimentally. They spin three-dimensional webs protecting the spider from predatory wasps and capturing prey. My research team and I will analyse how the characteristics of webs shape spiders' vulnerability to predation, foraging success, and impact on insect prey communities. We will also monitor a subset of wild spiders each year to estimate the relationship between their fecundity, survival, and the characteristics of their webs. My research team will also identify the cues used by spiders to choose their habitat and assess the selection gradients acting on habitat preferences and plasticity. Work in the laboratory will quantify the genetic correlations among habitat preferences and plasticity. We will characterize how spiders adjust the structure of their webs in response to competition and assess the effects of these adjustments on foraging behaviour and diet. We will also quantify how competition affects the heritability of web structure. This program integrates research on animal behaviour, ecology, and evolution to generate insights into why some populations exhibit a stronger polymorphism or plasticity than others. It will thus provide several insights on biological evolution that will be important for behavioural and community ecologists, and evolutionary biologists.