Collaborative Research: What are the causes and consequences of reproductive cooperation between unrelated male fish?

生物体之间的相互作用可以采取多种形式，从竞争和冲突到合作。从黏菌到灵长类动物，亲属之间的合作都有很好的记录，也相对比较好理解，但无关个体之间的合作，特别是那些直接相互竞争的个体之间的合作，仍然令人费解。这项拟议中的研究将研究是什么社会和环境因素导致不相关的雄性海洋鱼类相互合作或竞争。这项研究还将确定控制这些行为的基因，大脑区域和激素-目前，关于这些机制的具体信息很少-并测量合作与竞争相互作用如何影响该物种的繁殖。了解什么塑造了合作，竞争和冲突不仅具有普遍意义，而且还可以为保护和管理提供信息，因为冲突和竞争等负面相互作用已被证明会增加物种灭绝的风险。该项目支持对本科生和研究生进行各种生物学方法的培训，包括对海洋鱼类的实地研究和了解社会行为背后基因的工具。参与这项研究的教授和学生还将为高中生提供实习机会，教育推广讲座和针对对科学领域和职业感兴趣的妇女和女孩的在线活动。一些参与的学生将来自一个以本科生为中心的机构，吸引了一些非传统的STEM学生，这将使这些学生直接培训的机会，否则他们将无法访问。我们研究的长期目标是了解社会互动和选择如何相互作用，以塑造生殖行为的变化。我们的目标是量化男性可塑性的社会行为，文件的神经和激素机制的可塑性在男性的社会行为，并确定如何在男性的社会互动的变化影响选择。为了实现这些目标，我们建议对野生的眼斑隆头鱼（一种海鱼，Symphodus ocellatus）进行研究。有眼纹的濑鱼雄性表现出三种可供选择的生殖类型：“筑巢雄性”提供父母照顾，保卫领土，并与无关的“卫星”形成合作关系，这些卫星通过偷偷受精来欺骗，但通过减少“运动鞋”的生殖竞争来帮助（不合作或提供照顾; Stiver Alonzo 2013）。我们采用了综合的方法，使我们能够检查的生殖健康的合作和竞争的变化的后果，并确定这种变化和行为可塑性的神经和激素机制。

Interactions between organisms can take a variety of forms, from competition and conflict to cooperation. While cooperation among relatives is both well documented and relatively well understood in everything from slime molds to primates, cooperation among unrelated individuals, especially those that also compete directly with one another, remains more puzzling. The proposed research will study what social and environmental factors cause unrelated male marine fish to either cooperate or compete with one another. This research will also identify the genes, brain regions and hormones that control these behaviors - currently, there is little specific information on these mechanisms - and measure how cooperative versus competitive interactions affect reproduction in this species. Understanding what shapes cooperation, competition and conflict is not only of general interest, but can also inform conservation and management because negative interactions such as conflict and competition have been shown to increase a species risk of extinction. This project supports the training of undergraduate and graduate students on a variety of biological methods including field research on marine fish and tools for understanding the genes underlying social behavior. The professors and students involved in this research will also offer internships to high school students, education outreach lectures and online activities aimed at women and girls interested in science fields and careers. Several involved students will be from an undergraduate-focused institution which draws a number of non-traditional STEM students which will allow these students direct training opportunities that they otherwise would not have access to.The long-term goal of our research is to understand how social interactions and selection interact to shape variation in reproductive behaviors. We aim to quantify male plasticity in social behavior, document neural and hormonal mechanisms underlying plasticity in male social behavior, and determine how variation in male social interactions affects selection. To address these aims, we propose research on wild-living ocellated wrasse (a marine fish, Symphodus ocellatus). Ocellated wrasse males exhibit three alternative reproductive types: 'nesting males' provide parental care, defend territories, and form cooperative associations with unrelated 'satellites', who cheat by sneaking fertilizations but help by reducing reproductive competition from 'sneakers' (who do not cooperate or provide care; Stiver & Alonzo 2013). We adopt an integrative approach that allows us to examine the reproductive fitness consequences of variation in cooperation and competition and identify neural and hormonal mechanisms underlying this variation and behavioral plasticity.