Collaborative Research: Testing mechanistic connections between sex, foraging and parasitism along an ecological gradient

同一物种的个体往往在重要特征上存在差异，而这些差异是已知的遗传和环境影响的作用。然而，对于大多数物种来说，对个体变异的起源和维持仍然缺乏机械性的理解。这个项目提出了三个看似无关的特征之间的机械联系：有性生殖和无性繁殖的投资，对富裕资源和贫穷资源的摄食表现，以及对寄生虫的易感性。研究人员假设，喂食率的差异创造了一系列因果关系，最终通过基本的生态机制促进多样性的维持。为了验证这些想法，这项研究将对自然种群中的生物多样性和疾病的监测与实验室实验相结合，旨在理清塑造个体特征的遗传和环境因素。通过确定看似无关的特征如何整合到不同的策略中，并研究不同策略的频率如何随着自然生态梯度的变化而变化，这项研究将为维持自然种群表型和遗传变异的生态压力提供新的见解。这项研究的结果将大大促进对疾病如何传播和生物多样性如何维持的理解。为本科生、研究生、博士后科学家和研究技术人员提供多样化的教育机会。调查人员将开发一系列公开讲座、一次科学夏令营和一门新的生物-数学课程，并支持侧重于招收、留住和指导代表性不足群体的学生的活动。

Individuals of the same species often differ in important traits, and these differences are known functions of genetic and environmental influences. For most species, however, a mechanistic understanding of the origin and maintenance of individual variation is still missing. This project proposes mechanistic connections among three seemingly unrelated traits: investment in sexual versus asexual reproduction, feeding performance on rich versus poor resources, and susceptibility to parasites. The investigators hypothesize that differences in feeding rates create a causal chain of relationships that ultimately promotes the maintenance of diversity through basic ecological mechanisms. To test these ideas, the research combines monitoring of biodiversity and diseases in natural populations with laboratory experiments designed to disentangle genetic versus environmental factors shaping the traits of individuals. By determining how seemingly unrelated traits are integrated into distinct strategies, and examining how the frequency of different strategies varies along a natural ecological gradient, the research will provide novel insights into the ecological pressures maintaining phenotypic and genetic variation in natural populations. Results from this study will significantly advance understanding of how diseases spread and how biodiversity is maintained. Diverse educational opportunities will be provided for undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scientists, and research technicians. The investigators will develop a public lecture series, a summer science camp, and a new biology-mathematics course, and support activities focused on recruitment, retention and mentoring of students from under-represented groups.