Collaborative Research: RUI: Evolvability of Social Networks

包括人类在内的社会有机体在社会网络中组织起来，极大地影响疾病传播、资源和信息的获取，并最终影响生物适应性。社会网络的属性是由个体特征单独决定的，还是互动群体的突现特征尚不清楚。这个问题的答案揭示了生物学中最具争议的问题之一，选择是对个体还是对群体起作用，这种反应是如何推动社会行为的进化的？本研究利用遥感技术对自然条件下的多种群分叉真菌甲虫进行监测，并将这些行为数据与分子遗传学的亲缘性分析和系谱重建相结合。总之，这些数据将用于确定社会网络属性的遗传变异是否存在以及在何种程度上存在。这项工作的结果有可能将行为生态学家的焦点从个体转移到相互作用的群体上，或者表明似乎是突现的表型可以简单地通过个体差异来解释。行为数据档案将与基因型和谱系交叉引用，为未来的行为遗传学研究、遥感方法和图像分析发展做出重要的基础设施贡献。实地考察将在山湖生物站进行，并允许与非常成功的MLBS-REU项目合作，为来自不同背景的新科学家提供培训机会。这项工作还为来自两所pi机构的技术人员、研究生和其他本科生提供培训和指导机会。研究阶段的数据将用作RUI机构新开发课程的核心框架，每年的外展活动将连接实地站社区和费城城市的儿童科学项目。

Social organisms, including humans, organize themselves in social networks that dramatically affect disease transmission, access to resources and information, and ultimately biological fitness. Whether properties of social networks are determined by individual characteristics alone, or are emergent features of interacting groups is not clear. The answer to this question informs one of the most contentious issues in biology, does selection act on individuals or on groups and how does the response drive the evolution of social behavior? The proposed work uses remote video sensing technology to monitor multiple populations of forked fungus beetles under natural conditions and combines these behavioral data with molecular genetic analyses of relatedness and pedigree reconstruction. Together, these data will be used to determine whether and at what level genetic variation exists for social network properties. The results of the proposed work have the potential to redirect the focus of behavioral ecologists from individuals to interacting groups, or alternatively to show that what seem to be emergent phenotypes are simply explained through individual differences. The behavioral data archive will be cross-referenced with genotypes and pedigrees, representing a significant infrastructure contribution for future studies of behavior genetics, remote sensing methodologies, and image analysis development. Fieldwork will be conducted at the Mountain Lake Biological Station and allows collaboration with the highly successful MLBS-REU program to provide training opportunities for new scientists from diverse backgrounds. The work also provides training and mentorship opportunities for technicians, graduate students, and additional undergraduates from both PIs institutions. Data from the research phase will be used as the core scaffold for newly developed courses at a RUI institution, and outreach activities will connect the field station community and the Science for Kids program in urban Philadelphia each year.