RIG: The Behavior and Genetics of Phenotypic Differentiation in the Barn Swallow Species Complex

确定推动生物多样性的潜在机制是生物学的中心追求。性选择--基于雄性的不同交配成功而夸大的雄性装饰特征的进化--对于塑造雄性在种群中的外表是重要的，但这种进化机制也可能在种群水平的多样化中发挥重要作用。由于来自不同种群的个体不再将彼此识别为潜在的配偶，当种群内配偶偏好和雄性饰品的表达发生变化时，就会发生性选择的物种形成，从而导致种群之间的隔离。该项目将利用一种极其容易驯化和分布广泛的物种复合体--谷仓燕子(Hirundo Rustica)，它们由世界各地的六个亚种代表，每个亚种都具有不同的形态和行为特征组合，已知这些特征处于性别选择之下。关于性别选择在群体形态、遗传和行为分化中的作用的实验将在美国、英国和以色列进行，这些国家的这些特征差异最大。除了这些实验，还将使用最新的基因组学工具对历史殖民模式和遗传分化进行更大规模的分析。这套互补的分析将为我们理解基本的进化过程提供新的、重要的和全面的贡献。几个合作项目将直接吸引学生参与这项研究。例如，PI将与科罗拉多大学(CU)的技术、学习和社会联盟(ATLAS)合作，其资源将被用来开发一门专注于进化和行为生物学的基于媒体的课程。这位PI是一名年轻的研究员，她的第一个终身教职跟踪职位，还将利用CU代表不足的研究生的独特资助机会，包括NSF和NIH赞助的科罗拉多州多样性倡议。

Determining the underlying mechanisms that drive biological diversification is a central pursuit in Biology. Sexual selection -- the evolution of exaggerated male ornamental traits based on differential mating success of males -- is important for shaping a male's appearance within populations, but this evolutionary mechanism may also have an important role in population-level diversification. Speciation by sexual selection occurs when changes in mate preference and the expression of male ornaments within a population leads to isolation among populations because individuals from separate populations no longer recognize one another as potential mates. This project will take advantage of an extremely tractable and widespread species complex, the barn swallows (Hirundo rustica), which are represented by six sub-species world-wide, each possessing varying combinations of morphological and behavioral traits that are known to be under sexual selection. Experiments to test hypotheses about the role of sexual selection underlying morphological, genetic, and behavioral differentiation among populations will be based in the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel where these traits are most divergent. Along with these experiments, larger-scale analyses of historical colonization patterns and genetic differentiation using the latest genomics tools will be conducted. This complementary set of analyses will provide a novel, important and comprehensive contribution to our understanding of fundamental evolutionary processes.Several collaborative projects will directly engage students in this research. For example, the PI will collaborate with the Alliance for Technology, Learning, and Society (ATLAS) at the University of Colorado (CU) whose resources will be leveraged to develop a media-based course focused on evolutionary and behavioral biology. The PI, a young investigator in her first tenure track position, will take also take advantage of unique funding opportunities for under-represented graduate students at CU, including the NSF- and NIH-sponsored Colorado Diversity Initiative.