Dissertation Research: Parental Effects of Offspring Fitness

摘要/ Abstract摘要：Brodie &amp； Maple亲本对后代适合度的影响本研究将通过亲本行为来证明和描述枫亲对后代适合度的影响。父母可以通过影响后代的生存直接影响后代的适合度，也可以通过影响后代的表型间接影响后代的适合度。野外操作和自然控制的结合将同时用于估计亲代行为的自然变异，亲代行为对后代适合度的直接和间接影响，以及通过后代适合度作用于亲代行为的选择强度。小蝌蚪表现出一种谨慎的双亲代照顾形式，雄性照顾卵直到它们孵化，雌性照顾蝌蚪从孵化到蜕变。本研究将探讨不同的雄性和雌性亲代行为（人为的和自然的）对后代生长、发育和生存的影响。在项目1中，我们将对摄食事件的频率和每次摄食事件提供的营养蛋的数量进行控制，以确定这些自然行为的变化对后代的影响。在项目2中，将采用田间围栏实验方法研究亲本行为对卵发育和存活的影响，包括水合作用、对真菌感染的保护、对捕食者和寄生蜂的防御。

Abstract IBN 96-23840 Brodie & Maple Parental Effects on Offspring Fitness The proposed research will demonstrate and describe the influence that Dendrobates pumilio parents on their offspring s fitness through parental behavior. Parents may influence their offpring s fitness directly by influencing offspring survival, or indirectly by influencing offspring phenotypes. A combination of field manipulations and natural controls will be used simultaneously to obtain estimates of natural variation in parental behavior, the direct and indirect effects of parental behavior on offspring fitness, and the strength of selection acting on parental behavior through offspring fitness. D. pumilio display a discreet form of bi-parental care in which males care for the eggs until they hatch and females care for the tadpoles from hatching through metamorphosis. This research will investigate the effects of distinct male and female parental behaviors (manipulated and natural) on offspring growth, development, and survival. In Project 1, the frequency of feeding events and number of nutritional eggs provided per feeding event will be manipulated to determine the effects of variation in these natural behaviors on offspring. In Project 2, experimental manipulations in field enclosures will be used to investigate the effects of parental behaviors including hydration, protection from fungal infection, and defense against predators and parasitoids on egg development and survival.