LTREB Renewal: Long-term Research on Environmental Gender Determination in a Model System (Chrysemys)

在几个主要的脊椎动物群体中，胚胎发育过程中经历的环境温度决定了后代的性别。依赖温度的性别决定将通过对彩绘海龟野生种群的多年实地研究来解决。该项目将研究这种不寻常现象的几个方面：(1)长期气候变化对种群结构的影响，特别是雄性与雌性的比例；(2)筑巢行为的一生模式对后代性别比例的影响；(3)气候对捕食者数量的变化和对巢的不同捕食，从而导致种群性别比例的变化。一组学生研究人员将记录筑巢日期和巢上方的植被覆盖情况，跟踪雌性多年来评估筑巢行为，监测巢穴以调查捕食者对后代招募的影响，并将这些数据与气候和人类栖息地利用信息相关联。这项研究的结果将对气候变化和人类栖息地利用对物种生物学和物种保护的影响具有重要意义。这一长期研究计划还将继续为众多学生提供广泛的第一手和在线教育机会，包括许多代表性不足的少数族裔和妇女以及公众。

In several major groups of vertebrates, environmental temperatures experienced during embryonic development determine offspring gender. Temperature-dependent gender determination will be addressed with a multi-year field study of a wild population of the painted turtle, Chrysemys picta. The project will investigate several aspects of this unusual phenomenon: (1) the impact of long-term climatic variation on population structure, particularly the ratio of males to females, (2) the effect of lifetime patterns of nesting behavior on offspring gender ratio, and (3) climatic effects on variation in predator numbers and differential predation on nests, and hence shifts in population gender ratio. A team of student researchers will record nesting date and vegetation cover over nests, follow females across years to evaluate nesting behavior, monitor nests to investigate the influence of predators on offspring recruitment, and relate these data to information on climate and human habitat use.The findings of this research will have important implications for the impacts of climate change and human habitat use on the biology and conservation of species with this gender determination system. This long-term research program will also continue to provide extensive first-hand and on-line educational opportunities for numerous students, including many underrepresented minorities and women, and the public.