DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Modeling ornament-preference coevolution with individual-based simulations: An exploration of parameter space

自然界中一些最引人注目的特征是一种性别的成员在竞争获得配偶或受精机会时使用的装饰品。特别有趣的是，交配偏好和性选择饰品的进化过程是同步的。有许多模型描述了决定这些特征如何共同进化的各种条件，但所有这些模型都建立在从未经过理论检验的假设之上。控制装饰的基因和控制交配偏好的基因一直被认为以一种保持恒定遗传结构的方式遗传。本研究的目的是探索当遗传结构本身允许进化时，装饰偏好关节进化的动力学。基于个体的模拟模型将用于探索参数空间区域，这些区域促进或阻碍了长期理论预测的交配偏好和装饰的快速进化。该项目的结果将提供一个更好的理解遗传相关性状的进化一般。此外，模拟模型将有助于向学生展示进化过程，并有助于向公众传达如何使用计算机模型来剖析复杂的自然过程。

Some of the most spectacular traits in nature are ornaments used by members of one sex in competition for access to mates or fertilization opportunities. Of particular interest is the process by which mating preferences and sexually-selected ornaments evolve in tandem. There are many models describing the various conditions determining how these traits evolve together, but all of them rest on assumptions that have never been theoretically tested. The genes controlling the ornament and genes controlling the mating preference have always been assumed to be inherited in a manner that maintains a constant genetic architecture. The goal of this study is to explore the dynamics of ornament-preference joint evolution when the genetic architecture itself is allowed to evolve. Individual-based simulation models will be used to explore regions of parameter space that facilitate or hinder the rapid evolution of mating preferences and ornaments predicted by long-standing theory. The results of this project will provide a better understanding of the evolution of genetically correlated traits in general. Moreover, the simulation models will be useful for the demonstration of evolutionary processes to students and will help to communicate to the public how computer models can be used to dissect complex natural processes.