DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Environmentally-driven coupling of selection and heritability in a wild insect population

环境变化可以极大地改变野生种群的性状进化，因为它影响了适应性进化的两个驱动因素：自然选择和遗传力（父母和后代之间的相似性）。环境之间的选择差异是常见的；有趣的是，最近的研究表明，环境也影响遗传性。因此，环境变化可能在这两种力量之间产生系统的联系，如果在产生高遗传力的相同环境中选择最强，则可能加速进化。本研究将研究野生分叉真菌甲虫（Bolitotherus cornutus）雄性性状（角）的环境耦合选择和遗传力。本研究将测量来自三种不同真菌环境的10个甲虫种群对角长度的选择，并估计相同种群中角长度的遗传力。这些数据将用于测量选择和遗传力之间的相关性，并量化其对预测选择反应的影响。在气候变化的背景下，了解在不同环境条件下限制适应性进化的因素尤为重要。此外，该项目还包括培养一名研究生和指导本科生。该项目的组成部分将用于与弗吉尼亚州西南部农村地区的当地教育工作者合作的山湖生物站的讲习班。研究成果将在科学期刊、学术会议和跨学科专题讨论会（如杰斐逊学者基金会）上发表。跨学科对话论坛。

Environmental variation can dramatically alter trait evolution in wild populations because it affects two drivers of adaptive evolution: natural selection and heritability (the resemblance between parents and offspring). Variation in selection among environments is common; intriguingly, recent studies demonstrate that the environment also affects heritability. Consequently, environmental variation may generate a systematic association between these two forces, which could accelerate evolution if selection is strongest in the same environment that produces high heritability. The proposed work will examine environmental coupling of selection and heritability in a male trait (horns) in wild populations of forked fungus beetles (Bolitotherus cornutus). The proposed work will measure selection on horn length in ten beetle populations from three different fungal environments and estimate the heritability of horn length in the same populations. These data will be used to measure the correlation between selection and heritability and quantify its effect on the predicted response to selection. Understanding factors that constrain adaptive evolution under varying environmental conditions is particularly important in the context of climate change. In addition, the project involves training of a graduate student and mentorship of undergraduate students. Components of the project will be used in workshops for the Mountain Lake Biological Station partnership with local educators in rural southwestern Virginia. The research results will be disseminated in scientific journals, academic conferences, and interdisciplinary symposia, such as the Jefferson Scholars Foundation?s Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue.