REU: Natural Selection and Seasonal Polyphenism in a Complex Phenotype

进化生物学家感兴趣的动物的大多数特征都涉及复杂的特征：动物相互关联方面的集合或系统。例如由相互关联的骨骼系统组成的。大多数复杂的性状受其发育环境的影响（称为表型可塑性）；因此，例如人手的发育可能受到个体营养史的影响。尽管这些复杂性状很重要，但对于自然选择如何作用于野生种群的复杂性状，或者对这些性状的选择的表型可塑性的后果，我们的定量知之甚少。本研究将研究蝴蝶翅膀色素沉积模式这一复杂性状的自然选择和表型可塑性。通过对野生种群的一系列野外实验，研究将：(1)测量翅膀色素图案不同方面的自然选择，以及这种选择如何随季节变化；(2)确定选择是色素模式对体温调节的影响还是对潜在捕食者伪装的影响；(3)测量了表型可塑性对翅膀色素模式的选择性影响。这些实验将为复杂的表型可塑性性状的自然选择机制和季节变化提供第一个详细的案例研究。

Most features of animals of interest to evolutionary biologists involve complex traits: Sets or systems of interrelated aspects of the animal. For example composed of a system of interrelated bones. Most complex traits are influenced by the environment in which they develop (called phenotypic plasticity); thus for example the development of the human hand may be influenced by the nutritional history of the individual. Despite the importance of such complex traits, little is known quantitatively of how natural selection acts on complex traits in wild populations, or of consequences of phenotypic plasticity for selection on such traits. The proposed research will study natural selection and phenotypic plasticity of one complex trait: The wing pigmentation pattern of the butterfly, Pieris occidentalis. Using a series of field experiments in wild populations, the research will: (1) measure natural selection on different aspects of wing pigment pattern, and how such selections may vary seasonally; (2) determine whether selection is the result of the effects of pigment pattern on body temperature regulation or on camouflage from potential predators; and (3) measure the selective consequences of phenotypic plasticity in wing pigment pattern. These experiments will provide the first detailed case study of the mechanisms and seasonal variation in natural selection for a complex, phenotypically-plastic trait.