DISSERTATION RESEARCH: How do a signal and whole-organism performance interact to determine reproductive success?

动物使用某些特征或行为来相互传递信号。这种信号可以用于宣传信号者的特定品质，并且可以影响个体的生殖成功。尽管许多研究都集中在这种关系上，但信号与动物适应性之间的因果关系（即，繁殖和繁殖的关系还不清楚。这个项目将通过研究一个功能特征的信号来解决这个问题。功能性状是个体中不同系统的组合输出，可以成为选择的目标。这项研究的目的是确定信号和功能特征如何相互作用，以确定健身。绿色变色蜥蜴非常适合探索这些关系。可伸展的喉扇或垂肉的大小与雄性的咬力有关。用力咬的雄性往往会赢得与用力较小的雄性的攻击性遭遇。实验操作的赘肉大小，结合行为观察和生殖成功的遗传测试，将被用来确定如何信号及其相关功能影响男性生殖成功。这一领域相对未被探索，并对动物信号和性选择的理论工作有影响。变色蜥蜴是众所周知的许多和作为模式生物的行为，生态学和进化的研究。 因此，它们是教授生物学学生动物交流和性选择的理想生物。 这项研究将涉及本科生和推广到广大公众。

Animals use certain traits or behaviors to signal to one another. Such signaling may be used to advertise specific qualities of the signaler and may impact the reproductive success of the individual. Though much research has focused on this relationship, the causal links between the signal and an animal's fitness (i.e., survival and reproduction) are unclear. This project will address this gap by studying a signal that advertises a functional trait. Functional traits are the combined output of different systems in an individual and can be the targets of selection. The goal of this research is to determine how signals and functional traits interact to determine fitness. Green anole lizards are well-suited to explore these relationships. The size of the extendable throat-fan, or dewlap, is related to the ability of a male to bite hard. Males that bite hard tend to win aggressive encounters with males that bite with less force. Experimental manipulations of dewlap size, combined with behavioral observations and genetic tests of reproductive success, will be used to determine how a signal and its correlated function influence male reproductive success. This area is relatively unexplored and has implications for theoretical work on animal signaling and sexual selection. Anole lizards are well-known by many and serve as model organisms for studies of behavior, ecology and evolution. Hence, they are ideal organisms to teach students of biology about animal communication and sexual selection. This study will involve undergraduates and outreach to the general public.