DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Relatedness, Heterozygosity and Reproduction in a Monogamous Bird

智力优势：现在很清楚，许多动物物种的雌性经常与多个雄性繁殖，包括社会一夫一妻制物种的雌性，它们通常只与一个雄性形成配对关系。尽管雌性多次交配的现象普遍存在，但科学上对其发生的原因几乎没有共识。大多数工作都集中在假设雌性通过与高质量的雄性交配获得附加的遗传利益，但这些研究得到了不同的结果。最近，有人提出，雌性通过与基因互补的相容雄性交配而获益；例如，雌性可能与基因不同的雄性交配，以产生具有高遗传多样性的后代。这项研究将是首批同时测试四种不同假设预测的研究之一，其中包括遗传兼容性假设，以解释一夫一妻制鸟类中雌性的多次交配。这项研究将利用多年来的数据来进行亲子关系和遗传兼容性的遗传分析，实地分析后代与亲子关系的存活率，并进行一项旨在确定雌性与其社会伴侣的遗传相似性是否会影响其交配行为的实验。总之，这项工作将为该系统中多次交配对雌性的假设好处提供一个全面的测试。更广泛的影响：本项目将直接有助于研究生的论文研究和培训。这项研究还将为5-7名处于科学生涯早期的野外和实验室助理志愿者提供培训和经验，希望他们能够从事自己的研究，并进一步为科学知识体系做出贡献。过去的志愿者助理包括6名本科生，14名女性和4名少数民族。此外，本研究将开发一种统计工具，用于从常用的遗传标记类型估计个体遗传多样性。这一工具将可供研究遗传多样性对生存和行为模式的影响的其他人使用，并可能在保护方面有其他有用的应用。

Intellectual Merit: It is now clear that females of many animal species often reproduce with multiple males, including females of socially monogamous species who typically form a pair bond with only a single male. Despite the widespread occurrence of multiple mating by females, there is little scientific consensus for why it occurs. Most work has focused on the hypothesis that females obtain additive genetic benefits by mating with high-quality males, but these studies have obtained mixed results. More recently, it has been proposed that females benefit by copulating with compatible males whose genes are complementary to their own; for example, females may mate with genetically dissimilar males to produce offspring with high genetic diversity. This study will be among the first to simultaneously test the predictions of four separate hypotheses, including hypotheses of genetic compatibility, to explain multiple mating by females in a socially monogamous species of bird. The study will utilize multiple years of data for genetic analyses of parentage and genetic compatibility, field assays of offspring survival in relation to parentage, and an experiment designed to determine whether genetic similarity of a female to her social mate affects her mating behavior. Together, this work will provide a comprehensive test of the hypothesized benefits of multiple mating to females in this system. Broader Impacts: This project will contribute directly to the dissertation researchand training of a graduate student. This study will also provide training and experience to 5-7 volunteer field and laboratory assistants early in their scientific careers, hopefully permitting them to pursue their own research and further contribute to the body of scientific knowledge. Past volunteer assistants have included 6 undergraduates, 14 women, and 4 minorities. Additionally, this study will develop a statistical tool for estimating individual genetic diversity from a commonly used type of genetic marker. This tool will be available for use to others studying the effects of genetic diversity on survival and behavioral patterns and may have other useful applications in conservation.