COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: An Experiment in Evolution: Rapid Evolution in Drosophila subobscura

9981598休伊进化生物学家面临的三个基本问题是：1)进化发生的速度有多快？2)变化模式是否可重复？3)大多数变化是偶然的，还是自然选择的决定性力量占主导地位？20世纪70年代末，欧洲果蝇（Drosophila subbobscura）被引入北美和南美，这为解决这些问题提供了一个独特的机会。许多特征，包括遗传标记和体型，在欧洲祖先人群中随着纬度系统地变化。先前的研究表明，北美苍蝇在不到20年的时间里进化出了类似的纬度模式。由该奖项资助的研究将调查南美人口，并提供关于北美和欧洲人口的进一步信息。这是一个独特的机会，可以观察到在广阔的地理范围内发生的进化变化。物种引进正在重塑地球的生物多样性。许多研究评估了引进物种对本地种群的影响。然而，引进物种的进化变化通常被忽视，尽管这些变化最终决定了入侵的生态影响。此外，这些自然实验证明了种群对新栖息地的进化和生态反应，这将有助于预测气候变化对农业害虫和虫媒疾病的分布和丰度的影响。

9981598HueyThree fundamental questions for evolutionary biologists are: 1) How rapidly does evolution occur? 2) Is the pattern of change repeatable? 3) Are most changes historically contingent, or do the deterministic forces of natural selection dominate? The introduction of the European fruit fly, Drosophila subobscura, into North and South America in the late 1970's provides a unique opportunity to address these questions. Many traits, including genetic markers and body size, vary systematically with latitude among the ancestral European populations. Previous studies show that the North American flies have evolved similar latitudinal patterns in less than 20 years. The studies funded by this award will investigate the South American populations and provide further information on the North American and European populations. This is a unique opportunity to observe evolutionary change as it occurs over a broad geographic range. Species introductions are currently reshaping much of Earth's biological diversity. Many studies assess the impact of introduced species on native populations. Evolutionary changes in the introduced species, however, have generally been neglected even though such changes ultimately determine the ecological impact of the invasion. Furthermore, these natural experiments demonstrate the evolutionary and ecological response of populations to novel habitats, which will help predict the impact of climate change on the distribution and abundance of agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases.