Evolutionary and population ecology of large mammals

大型哺乳动物的进化和种群生态学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-05814
• 负责人: FestaBianchet, Marco
• 金额: $ 4.01万
• 依托单位: Université de Sherbrooke
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=715820
• 关键词: Evolutionary; population; ecology; large; mammals

My long-term research program seeks to understand how individual differences develop and how they affect population dynamics and evolutionary processes. Because the fitness consequences of changes in resource abundance vary according to individual characteristics, individual differences are key determinants of both evolutionary potential and population ecology. By monitoring individually-marked wild mammals from birth to death, my research group documents variation in morphology, genotype, reproductive success and survival. Using data on known individuals collected over several generations, we now can test hypotheses about how lifetime reproduction, a proxy of fitness, is affected by of early development or parental characteristics. Based on exceptionally detailed data on over 1300 bighorn sheep (54 years by 2023) and 1600 kangaroos (16 years), working with an international network of collaborators and innovative statistical techniques, over the next 5 years I will train 11 HQP. We will test hypotheses on life-history evolution, including the effects of growth patterns on reproductive success in both sexes and on reproductive allocation in females. Mixture models will identify clusters of both male and female bighorn sheep based on early growth. We will then determine if clusters are associated with different lifetime reproductive tactics. Bighorn mothers show much individual variation in allocation to lactation: I hypothesize that some of that variation can be explained by parental age and by early growth patterns. We will study age-specific allocation to reproduction in kangaroos: with indeterminate growth, the reproductive value of mothers may remain higher than that of offspring into old age, selecting against the greater allocation to reproduction with age predicted by the Terminal Investment Hypothesis. We will determine whether female kangaroo, bighorn sheep and mountain goats skip reproductive opportunities as part of a tactic, or are simply constrained by resource availability. Results on individual reproductive tactics will inform research on population dynamics. Kangaroos face an unpredictable environment: the flexible reproductive allocation of females according to forage abundance may drive changes in recruitment and explain the wide changes in population growth. In bighorn sheep, we will investigate the genetic and demographic consequences of an experimental translocation to rescue a population affected by inbreeding.

我的长期研究计划旨在了解个体差异如何发展，以及它们如何影响种群动态和进化过程。由于资源丰度变化的适应性后果因个体特征而异，因此个体差异是进化潜力和种群生态学的关键决定因素。通过监测个体标记的野生哺乳动物从出生到死亡，我的研究小组记录了形态，基因型，繁殖成功和生存的变化。利用几代人收集的已知个体的数据，我们现在可以测试关于终身生殖（健康的代理）如何受到早期发育或父母特征影响的假设。基于1300多只大角羊（到2023年为54岁）和1600只袋鼠（16岁）的异常详细的数据，与国际合作者网络和创新的统计技术合作，在未来5年内，我将培训11名HQP。我们将测试生活史进化的假设，包括生长模式对两性生殖成功和女性生殖分配的影响。混合模型将确定集群的男性和女性大角羊的基础上早期的增长。然后，我们将确定集群是否与不同的终身生殖策略。大角牛母亲表现出很大的个体差异分配到哺乳期：我假设，一些变化可以解释父母的年龄和早期的生长模式。我们将研究特定年龄的分配生殖袋鼠：不确定的增长，母亲的生殖价值可能会保持高于后代到老年，选择对更大的分配生殖与年龄预测的终端投资假说。我们将确定雌性袋鼠，大角羊和山羊是否跳过生殖机会作为策略的一部分，或者只是受到资源可用性的限制。个体繁殖策略的结果将为种群动态研究提供信息。袋鼠面临着一个不可预测的环境：雌性袋鼠根据饲料丰富度进行灵活的生殖分配，这可能会导致招募的变化，并解释种群增长的广泛变化。在大角羊，我们将调查的遗传和人口后果的实验易位，以挽救受近亲繁殖影响的人口。