Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of a Phenotypically Plastic Feeding Morphology

生物对环境的短期变化作出反应而改变其形态的能力被称为表型可塑性。 这项研究将研究一组密切相关的物种（蜗牛），这些物种被发现有能力改变它们的形状，以应对它们饮食的短期变化。 PI将研究北美大西洋和太平洋沿岸以及澳大利亚的蜗牛。 这项研究的目标是使用计算机建模，实地观察和实验，受控实验室实验，先进的显微镜技术和遗传学实验来确定改变形式的能力是否对个体有利，并确定这种能力在物种中的分布情况。 通过观察广泛的物种，PI将能够确定表型可塑性与生殖模式、饮食和栖息地、捕食风险或这些物种的其他生态特征之间是否存在关联。 这项工作将提供重要的信息，说明是什么使一些物种能够对环境的短期变化做出反应（表型可塑性），而一些物种则不能（具有固定的、遗传决定的形式）。 此外，这项工作的结果应该有助于PI开始预测环境状况和物种特征，PI将预期表型可塑性存在，当PI将预测它不应该，物种应该有固定的形态。

The ability of organisms to change their form in response to short-term changes in the environment is called phenotypic plasticity. This research will examine a group of closely related species (snails) which have been found to have the ability to change their form in response to short term changes in their diet. The PI will be studying snails on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores of North America, and in Australia. The goals of this research are to use computer modeling, field observations and experiments, controlled laboratory experiments, advanced microscopy techniques, and genetics experiments to determine whether the ability to change form is advantageous to individuals, and to determine how widespread this ability is among species. By looking at a wide range of species the PI will be able to determine if there are associations between the ability to be phenotypically plastic and reproductive patterns, diet and habitat, risk of predation, or other ecological features of these species. This work will provide important information about what makes some species able to respond to short-term changes in the environment (be phenotypically plastic) and some species not (have fixed, genetically determined forms). In addition, the results of this work should help the PIs begin to predict the environmental situations and species characteristics where the PIs would expect phenotypic plasticity to be present, and when the PIs would predict that it should not, where species should have fixed morphologies.