Dissertation Research: Does Selection on Mating Characters Facilitate Adaptation in a Laboratory Population of Drosophila Melanogaster

9623479 Rice本奖项资助的论文研究将检验适应性进化的基本理论。自然选择可以分为两部分——性选择（雄性竞争使卵子受精）和非性选择（两性的生存和雌性的产卵）。理论预测，这两种形式的选择可能是强化的，也可能是对抗的。如果后一种情况很常见，那么性选择将减缓种群对不断变化的环境的适应。由该奖项资助的研究将确定这两种形式的自然选择如何在自然界中相互作用。为了做到这一点，黑胃果蝇的实验室种群将面临一个新的环境因素——热应激的挑战。然后，种群对新环境的适应速度将在有无施加性别选择的情况下确定，从而提供一种直接的措施，以衡量在哪种制度下适应能力最迅速地积累起来。性选择和非性选择之间的关系是所有涉及动物或植物的育种企业（如农业、动物园和保护生物学）的实际问题。这项研究还将揭示种群适应温度变化环境的速度有多快。研究结果将为预测昆虫种群对全球气候变化下预期的持续和大幅升温的反应能力提供实用信息。

9623479 Rice The Dissertation Research funded by this award will test basic theory on adaptive evolution. Natural selection can be divided into two components - sexual selection (competition by males to fertilize eggs) and non-sexual selection (survival of both sexes and egg production by females). Theory predicts that these two forms of selection can be either reinforcing or antagonistic. If the latter case is common, sexual selection will slow a population's adaptation to a changing environment. Research funded by this award will establish how these two forms of natural selection interact in nature. To do this, a laboratory population of Drosophila melanogaster will be challenged with a new environmental factor, heat stress. The rate of adaptation by the population to the new environment will then be determined with and without sexual selection imposed, providing a direct measure of the regime under which adaptation accrues most rapidly. The relationship between sexual selection and non-sexual selection is of practical concern in all breeding enterprises involving animals or plants (e.g. agriculture, zoological parks, and conservation biology). This research will also shed light on how fast can populations adapt to thermally changing environments. Findings will provide practical information for predicting the ability of insect populations to respond to a protracted and substantial increase in temperature, as anticipated under global climate change.