Competitive Displacement: The Role of Reproductive Mode and Parasitism

一幅大范围的地理图显示，一只壁虎， 系带半趾虎在被引进到各个岛屿后， 太平洋，取代至少三个其他物种。 这 至少在三个群岛复制了这一轨迹： 瓦努阿图、夏威夷和斐济。 其中两个物种 是无性单性生殖：Hemidactylus garnotii和 Lepidodactylus lugubris. 这项研究将确定 造成流离失所的生态机制， 再生产方式的作用。 潜在机制 分为两类：竞争和“明显” 竞争”。 在竞争的标题下，该项目将 研究关于剥削和干涉的假设 比赛结合了实地操作实验 和圈养实验 在“明显竞争”类别中， 寄生虫在群落动态中的潜在作用将是 通过对每个物种的肠道、肺和血液进行筛查来检查 寄生虫 沿着这些相同的路线， 无性繁殖的物种将在斐济和整个太平洋， 一种称为混合淋巴细胞反应的免疫学技术 （MLR）。 不同无性系的分布范围将被绘制成图 并与寄生虫负荷的克隆差异有关。 几种模式归因于生态原因的维护 有性繁殖的关键在于 无性繁殖物种中具有生态意义的克隆。

A wide-scale biogeographic pattern shows that a house gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus, upon introduction to islands throughout the Pacific, replaces at least three other species. This trajectory has been replicated in at least three archipelagoes: Vanuatu, Hawaii and Fiji. Two of the species that are displaced are asexual parthenogens: Hemidactylus garnotii and Lepidodactylus lugubris. This research will determine the ecological mechanism responsible for the displacement and the role played by the mode of reproduction. Potential mechanisms fall into two categories: competition and "apparent competition". Under the heading of competition, the project will examine hypotheses concerning exploitation and interference competition with a combination of manipulative field experiments and captive experiments. In the "apparent competition" category, the potential role of parasites in the community dynamics will be examined by screening each species for gut, lung and blood parasites. Along those same lines, the clonal diversity of the asexual species will be both in Fiji and across the Pacific, with an immunological technique known as the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). Distributional ranges of different clones will be mapped and associated with clonal differences in parasite burdens. Several models attributing ecological reasons for the maintenance of sexual reproduction hinge critically on the number of ecologically significant clones in the asexual species.