International Research Fellowship Program: Evolution of Aggression as a Key to the Range Expansion of a Passerine Bird

[601751]达克沃斯国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用独特或互补的设施、专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持Renee a . Duckworth博士与英国爱丁堡大学的Loeske Kruuk博士和美国哈佛大学的Jonathan Losos博士进行为期24个月的研究。种间竞争是一种重要的进化力量，它塑造了物种的表型并影响了物种的地理范围。然而，我们对竞争相互作用中特征的进化动力学知之甚少，特别是在物种边界上。这是因为我们必须经常依赖竞争的间接证据，这使得我们很难同时确定两个物种之间竞争的主要资源，以及解释竞争能力差异的特定特征或特征。在这里，我利用了一个独特的“自然实验”，在这个实验中，西部蓝知更鸟（Sialia mexicana）正在取代与它们密切相关的同族山蓝知更鸟（S. currucoides），并迅速重新殖民它们的历史范围。在这个系统中，雄性的攻击性决定了对巢穴竞争的结果——这是一种有限的资源，对两个物种的生存都至关重要。该研究的中心目标是将定量遗传方法与大规模的群落形成现场实验相结合，以了解两种物种接触区攻击性变化的进化原因。该项目将为复杂行为特征的进化提供新的见解，并将阐明行为和生态相互作用在洞巢物种保护中的作用。克鲁克博士开创了定量遗传学的新技术，以测试关于野生种群复杂性状变异的进化意义的假设。Losos博士的综合研究项目结合了大规模的野外实验、功能形态学研究和系统发育方法，以了解物种之间的进化和生态相互作用。

0601751DuckworthThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Renee A. Duckworth to work with Dr. Loeske Kruuk at the University of Edinburgh in the UK for twelve months, and with Dr. Jonathan Losos at Harvard in the U.S. for twelve months.Interspecific competition is an important evolutionary force that shapes the phenotypes and influences the geographic ranges of species. Yet, we know very little about the evolutionary dynamics of traits involved in competitive interactions, particularly at species' borders. This is because we must often rely on indirect evidence of competition and this makes it difficult to identify both, the major resource that is the focus of competition between two species, as well as the specific trait or traits that account for differences in competitive ability. Here, I capitalize on a unique 'natural experiment' in which western bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) are displacing mountain bluebirds (S. currucoides), a closely related congener, and are rapidly re-colonizing their historical range. In this system, male aggression determines the outcome of competition over nest cavities - a limited resource that is critical to the survival of both species. The central goal of the proposed research is to integrate quantitative genetic approaches with large scale field experiments on community formation to understand the evolutionary causes of variation in aggression across the contact zone of the two species. This project will provide new insights into the evolution of a complex behavioral trait and will also shed light on the role of behavioral and ecological interactions in the conservation of cavity nesting species. Dr. Kruuk has pioneered new techniques in quantitative genetics to test hypotheses on the evolutionary significance of variation in complex traits in wild populations. Dr. Losos' integrative research program combines large scale field experiments, studies of functional morphology, and phylogenetic approaches to understand evolutionary and ecological interactions among species.