Collaborative Research: RUI: Carotenoid trade-offs in a species with colorful females: environmental influences and fitness consequences

为了维持健康和生存，动物必须就如何分配有限的资源做出经济决策。研究人员将重点放在类胡萝卜素上，这是人类和非人类动物饮食中特别重要和有限的资源。脊椎动物不能合成类胡萝卜素，必须从食物来源中获得，而食物来源可能只有有限的数量。类胡萝卜素它们在动物生理学中扮演着三个重要的——有时是相互竞争的——角色。首先，类胡萝卜素直接导致了许多动物的红色、橙色和黄色，而这种颜色通常是吸引配偶所必需的。其次，血液中的类胡萝卜素或储存在组织中的类胡萝卜素支持免疫系统。第三，类胡萝卜素是重要的抗氧化剂，它通过清除被称为自由基的潜在有害分子来保护身体细胞。类胡萝卜素权衡假说预测，当饮食中的类胡萝卜素受到限制时，动物会将现有的类胡萝卜素分配给当时对它们最有益的组织类型。研究人员采用了一种独特的方法来探索这一假设，他们研究了雌性的类胡萝卜素的权衡，这些雌性的——而不是雄性的——是颜色鲜艳的。雌性有额外的限制，分配类胡萝卜素到它们的卵，以促进后代的生存。研究人员将结合实验室和实地研究，研究环境压力因素（如捕食者和寄生虫）如何影响类胡萝卜素的分配策略，以及这些策略如何影响健康、吸引力和后代的生存。因为所有脊椎动物都以某种方式依赖类胡萝卜素，这项研究将为摄入和适当分配必需营养素如何影响生理和生殖提供基本见解。该提案包括一个重要的培训组成部分，因为两位首席研究员将在各自的机构培训和指导本科生和研究生。他们还将与尼加拉瓜合作者合作，增加尼加拉瓜生物野外站的研究基础设施，并培训尼加拉瓜学生。

Animals must make economical decisions about how to distribute limiting resources in order to maintain health and survival. The investigators focus on carotenoid pigments, a particularly important and limiting resource in the diets of human and non-human animals. Vertebrate animals cannot synthesize carotenoids and must obtain them from dietary sources which may be available in only limited quantities. Carotinoids they play three important - and sometimes competing - roles in animal physiology. First, carotenoids are directly responsible for many examples of red, orange and yellow coloration in animals, and this coloration is often necessary for attracting mates. Second, carotenoids in the bloodstream or stored in tissue support the immune system. Third, carotenoids are important antioxidants, which protect the body's cells by removing potentially damaging molecules called free radicals. The carotenoid trade-off hypothesis predicts that when dietary carotenoids are limiting, animals will allocate existing carotenoids to whichever tissue type is most beneficial to them at that time. The investigators take a unique approach to exploring this hypothesis by studying carotenoid trade-offs in female, convict cichlids, Amatitlania nigrofasciata, Central American fish in which females - not males - are brightly colored. Females have the added constraint of allocating carotenoids to their eggs to facilitate offspring survival. The investigators will combine laboratory and field research to examine how environmental stressors such as predators and parasites influence carotenoid allocation strategies, and how these strategies impact health, attractiveness, and offspring survival. Because all vertebrate animals rely in some way on carotenoids, this research will provide fundamental insights into how ingesting and properly allocating essential nutrients affects both physiology and reproduction. This proposal includes a significant training component, as both principal investigators will train and mentor undergraduate and graduate students at their institutions. They will also work with Nicaraguan collaborators to increase research infrastructure at a Nicaraguan biological field station and train Nicaraguan students.