Life History Adaptation in Fishes: Male Mating Strategies in Species with Paternal Care

进化生物学家认为，自然选择塑造了有机体的表型(即形态、生理、发育、行为)，使其生存和繁殖最大化。然而，生理限制导致了生存和繁殖之间的权衡。这一概念框架为理解与生存相关的行为(如取食和躲避捕食者)与与繁殖相关的行为(如交配和父母照顾)提供了许多见解。这项拟议的研究考察了鱼类生存和繁殖之间的生理权衡，并探索了这些权衡对行为的影响。PI将考察父母的照料、收养和自相残杀，作为自然选择支持的一套生育策略。方法是对这一现象进行数学建模，并通过实验测试模型的预测。这项研究的基本好处将是对形态、生理和行为进化的新见解。这项研究的应用效益是渔业生物学和水产养殖业，这依赖于生活史进化的基本知识，毒理学，在生物测定中使用相同的物种(傻头鱼，Pimephales proelas)。

Evolutionary biologists assume that natural selection molds an organism's phenotype (i.e. morphology, physiology, development, behavior) in such a way that maximizes its survival and reproduction. However, physiological constraints result in a tradeoff between survival and reproduction. This conceptual framework has provided many insights into understanding behaviors associated with survival, such as feeding and predator avoidance, versus behaviors associated with reproduction, such mating and parental care. The proposed research examines physiological tradeoffs between survival and reproduction in fishes, and explores the implications these tradeoffs have for behavior. The PI will examine parental care, adoption, and cannibalism as a suite of reproductive tactics favored by natural selection. The approach is to model the phenomenon mathematically, and to test the model's predictions experimentally. The basic benefit of this research will be new insights into the evolution of morphology, physiology, and behavior. The applied benefits of the research are to fisheries biology and aquaculture, which depend on basic knowledge of life history evolution, toxicology, which uses the same species (the fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas) in bioassays.