Gamete ecology in variable environments

我们对自然选择何时以及如何改变性选择的结果(它们的相互作用)的理解很差。这使得预测选择的结果变得困难，这一问题在环境扰动下加剧。我的长期目标是阐明通过非生物条件的自然选择和通过雄性和雌性的性选择如何相互作用来影响配子生态和进化。 雄性承担潜在交配的风险，获胜者可能非常成功，以至于他们变得精子不足，但由于交配后的性别选择，许多人未能繁殖后代。性选择在内部和外部两种肥料中进行，但外部精子也会遇到自然选择，这是通过调节精子行为的可变非生物条件来实现的。配子水平上的性选择和自然选择之间的相互作用尚未被探索。男性会欺骗女性的策略吗？男性会影响竞争对手的精子性能吗？这一切都取决于非生物条件吗？ 使用外部肥料，我的研究考察了在受精微环境中经历性选择和自然选择的雄配子和雌配子之间的相互作用。这项研究超越了物种，并提供了对生殖动态的洞察，这些动态具有生态(补充)、进化(杂交)和保护(圈养繁殖)的含义。 将从3个短期目标取得进展： (1)男性产生的精子比受精所需的要多，而且由于未知的原因，射精过程中精子的形态和功能有很大的变化。精子的游泳速度和寿命之间存在着一种权衡，这些不同的精子会影响后代的质量。然而，这种模式是否受到外部化肥中非生物条件的影响尚不清楚。我的团队将确定在压力条件下保持游泳寿命的精子是否会产生高质量的后代。 (2)最近发现的化学修饰精子行为包括雌性线索介导的同种精子偏好。我们不知道这一点的基础有多柔韧，因此也不知道整体进化的重要性。我们将确定这些机制在不需要它们的种群中是否有成本和崩溃，与应激的非生物条件的相互作用是否会破坏性选择，以及模式是否在进化上如此重要，以至于它们在种内水平上进化。 (3)精液化学对男性精子功能的重要性在一些内部肥料中是众所周知的，但一个人的精液如何影响其他人却知之甚少。我们将确定精液是否会改变女性介导的精子竞争过程，以及被选择为配偶的男性是否会进化出机制，以减少使用替代生殖策略的运动鞋男性的父权。

We have a poor understanding of when and how natural selection modifies the outcome of sexual selection (their interaction). This makes it difficult to predict the product of selection, a problem that is exacerbated under environmental perturbation. My long-term objective is to illuminate how natural selection via abiotic conditions and sexual selection through both males and females interact to influence gamete ecology and evolution. Males take risks to potentially mate and winners may be so successful that they become sperm deficient, yet due to post-copulatory sexual selection many fail to sire offspring. Sexual selection operates in both internal and external fertilizers, but external sperm also encounter natural selection, via variable abiotic conditions that modulate sperm behaviour. The interaction between sexual and natural selection at the gamete level is unexplored. Can males cheat female strategies? Can males influence sperm performance of rivals? Does any of this depend on abiotic conditions? Using external fertilizers, my research examines the interactions between male and female gametes experiencing both sexual and natural selection in the fertilization micro-environment. The research transcends species and provides insight into reproductive dynamics that have ecological (recruitment), evolutionary (hybridization) and conservation (captive breeding) implications. Progress will be achieved from 3 short-term objectives: (1) Males produce more sperm than are necessary for fertilization and for unknown reasons there is great within-ejaculate variation in sperm form and function. A fertilization tradeoff exists between sperm swimming speed and longevity, and these different sperm can influence offspring quality. However whether such patterns are influenced by abiotic conditions in external fertilizers is not known. My team will determine if sperm that maintain swimming longevity under stressful conditions produce superior quality offspring. (2) Recent discoveries of chemically modified sperm behaviour include female-cue mediated conspecific sperm preferences. We do not know how pliable the underpinnings of this are and thus the overall evolutionary importance. We will determine if mechanisms have costs and breakdown in populations where they are not needed, whether interactions with stressful abiotic conditions destroy sexual selection, and whether patterns are so evolutionarily important that they evolve at the intraspecific level. (3) The importance of seminal fluid chemistry to a male's sperm function is known for some internal fertilizers, but how one's seminal fluid influences other individuals is poorly understood. We will determine if seminal fluid alters processes of female mediated sperm competition, and if males that are chosen mates evolve mechanisms to reduce paternity of sneaker males that use alternative reproduction strategies.