International Research Fellowship Program: The Role of Resource Competition and Density Dependence in Sexual Selection Theory

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到24个月的研究。该项目的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持霍普·M·克卢格博士与芬兰赫尔辛基大学汉娜·科科博士合作的为期24个月的研究奖学金。性选择(即性别成员之间的竞争导致生殖成功的变化，或发生这种变化的过程的理论)是进化生物学最基本的概念之一。然而，围绕性别选择理论的基本原则仍然存在许多争论和困惑。这种争论的部分原因是，性选择理论未能明确地纳入种群水平的过程(如对非配偶资源的竞争，绝对人口密度的影响)，这些过程通常被认为只在自然选择下才有。由于忽视了这些因素，目前的性选择衡量标准忽略了与生殖成功直接相关的整个类别的性竞争。这个项目的目标是通过使用两个数学模型和两个沙虎鱼实验来评估资源竞争和密度依赖于性选择机会的相对重要性。具体地说，这项工作将1)使用数学模型来确定一系列可能影响性选择的因素，将我的预测与现有理论的预测进行比较，并完善性选择理论的预测(模型1)；2)评估这些影响是如何在自然界中表现出来的(摘录。1)和3)将理论预测和经验发现合并到一个一般的、但综合的性选择模型中，以分离影响性选择的最关键因素。这项工作是与Hanna Kokko博士合作完成的，Hanna Kokko博士是理论进化生态学的世界领导者之一。Kokko博士是赫尔辛基大学的教授，该大学以其专注于进化论和生态学的项目和研究小组而闻名。此外，赫尔辛基大学还维护着Tvarminne动物站，拟议中的实验就是在那里进行的。

0701286KlugThe 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. Hope M. Klug to work with Dr. Hanna Kokko at the University of Helsinki in Finland.Sexual selection (i.e. the theory that competition between members of a sex for mates leads to variation in reproductive success, or the process by which this occurs) is one of the most fundamental concepts of evolutionary biology. However, there is still much debate and confusion surrounding the founding principles of sexual selection theory. Such debate is in part due to the failure of sexual selection theory to explicitly incorporate population-level processes (such as competition for non-mate resources, effects of absolute population density) which are typically thought to be only under natural selection. By ignoring such factors, current measures of sexual selection ignore whole classes of intra-sexual competition that are directly tied to reproductive success. The goal of this project is to evaluate the relative importance of resource competition and density-dependence on the opportunity for sexual selection through the use of two mathematical models and two experiments using the sand goby. Specifically, this work will 1) use mathematical modeling to determine a range of factors potentially affecting sexual selection, compare my predictions to those of existing theory, and refine predictions of sexual selection theory (Model 1); 2) evaluate how such effects are manifested in nature (Expts. 1 & 2); and 3) merge theoretical predictions and empirical findings in a general, yet synthetic, model of sexual selection to isolate the most pivotal factors affecting sexual selection. This work is being done in collaboration with Dr. Hanna Kokko, who is one of the world's leaders in theoretical evolutionary ecology. Dr. Kokko is a professor at the University of Helsinki, which is well-known for its programs and research groups focusing on evolution and ecology. Additionally, the University of Helsinki maintains Tvarminne Zoological Station, where the proposed experiments are being conducted.