Maternal effects as a bridge between parental environment and offspring phenotype during range expansion

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。许多物种预计将改变其地理范围以应对气候变化。预测这种范围变化的程度和速度是困难的，因为我们目前对物种入侵和传播到新地区的机制知之甚少。拟议的研究将利用最近发现的西部蓝鸟（Sialia mexicana）的大规模范围扩张来深入了解这一过程背后的机制。在该物种中，在新种群在范围边缘的殖民化过程中，繁殖雌性影响雄性后代的殖民化行为，以响应当地资源丰富程度的变化。当资源有限时，它们产生的雄性会分散并扩散到新的地区；然而，当资源丰富时，它们产生的雄性会留在它们的出生种群中繁殖。然而，繁殖雌性影响后代扩散的近似机制尚不清楚。拟议的研究结合了对西部蓝鸟范围扩张历史的详细了解和对标记个体的长期跟踪，以及对母亲生理学的实地实验，以测试母亲在范围扩张期间如何影响后代行为的其他假设。这项工作不仅有助于深入了解范围扩大的机制，而且还提供了一个独特的机会，通过现有的蓝鸟监测项目，传播与气候变化有关的物种共存和生物多样性的信息，该项目涉及当地牧场主、美洲土著部落和公众之间的合作。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Numerous species are expected to modify their geographical range in response to climate change. Predicting the extent and speed with which such range changes will occur is difficult because we currently have a poor understanding of the mechanisms that enable species to invade and spread into new areas. The proposed research will capitalize on the recently discovered large scale range expansion of western bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying this process. In this species, during the colonization of new populations at the edge of the range, breeding females influence the colonizing behavior of male offspring in response to changes in local resource abundance. When resources are limited, they produce males that disperse and spread into new areas; whereas, when resources are abundant, they produce males that remain in their natal population to breed. However, the proximate mechanisms by which breeding females influence offspring dispersal are not known. The proposed research combines a detailed knowledge of the history of western bluebird's range expansion and long-term tracking of marked individuals with field experiments on maternal physiology to test alternative hypotheses of how mothers influence offspring behavior during range expansion. Not only will this work provide insight into the mechanisms underlying range expansion, but it also provides a unique opportunity for dissemination of information about species coexistence and biodiversity in relation to climate change through existing bluebird monitoring programs which involve collaborations between local ranchers, Native American tribes and members of the general public.