NSF-BSF: Natural selection on the social interactions that mediate collective behavior: ecological pressures and genomic architecture

该项目研究了进化是如何塑造适应不断变化的环境的能力的。蚁群在没有中央控制的情况下运作。蚂蚁利用短暂的局部相互作用，使蚁群能够适应不断变化的环境。该项目将继续进行一项独特的长期研究，追踪美国西南部沙漠中收割蚁种群30多年的情况，包括强降雨时期和现在似乎即将结束的长期干旱。蜂群调节觅食活动，以应对食物供应和水压力的变化。蚁群的不同之处在于它们如何调节觅食；有些动物比其他动物更有可能在干燥的天气里限制觅食活动，以节约用水。该项目将使用遗传方法来发现行为不同的群体之间的遗传差异，了解觅食行为的调节是否从父母遗传给后代群体，并研究群体行为与后代群体数量的繁殖成功率之间的关系。这项工作将展示自然选择如何塑造群体的集体行为，以及选择如何随着干旱条件的变化而改变。集体行为发生在生物组织的每一个层面，从细胞到动物。它在没有中央控制的情况下运作，使用局部相互作用，最终产生集体结果。集体行为上的自然选择，就像任何性状上的自然选择一样，都与生态压力有关。该项目调查了自然种群中集体行为的进化，将个体和集体水平联系起来，以及在不断变化的生态条件下集体行为的选择压力是如何变化的。该项目借鉴并继续了对美国西南部沙漠中红色收获蚁（Pogonomyrmex barbatus）种群种群的人口、行为、生态和进化的30年研究，并开发了一个数据库，使这些数据可用于分析。先前的研究表明，沙漠收获蚁群通过在巢内外出和返回的觅食蚁之间短暂的嗅觉互动来调节觅食活动，以应对水分压力。蜂群调节觅食活动的方式各不相同，之前在干旱条件下进行的研究表明，这与后代蜂群的繁殖成功有关。该项目研究了不断变化的生态条件，特别是降雨，如何导致将觅食活动和繁殖成功联系起来的选择压力的变化。减少代表性的基因组测序将用于鉴定亲代-后代对群体，从而衡量后代群体数量的繁殖成功率。研究了觅食调节的亲本向子代群体的遗传力。将进行一项全基因组关联研究，以调查这种集体行为变异背后的遗传结构。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The project investigates how evolution shapes resilience to changing conditions. Ant colonies operate without central control. Ants use brief local interactions that in the aggregate, allow colonies to adjust to changing conditions. The project will continue a unique long-term study tracking a population of harvester ant colonies in the desert of the southwest US over 30 years, including periods of heavy rainfall and a long drought that now appears to be ending. Colonies regulate foraging activity in response to changes in food availability and water stress. Colonies differ in how they regulate foraging; some are more likely than others to restrict foraging activity in dry weather so as to conserve water. The project will use genetic methods to find genetic differences among colonies that differ in behavior, to learn whether the regulation of foraging behavior is inherited from parent to offspring colonies, and to examine how colony behavior is associated with its reproductive success in numbers of offspring colonies. This work will show how natural selection is shaping the collective behavior of colonies, and how selection can shift in response to changing drought conditions.Collective behavior occurs at every level of biological organization, from cells to animals. It operates without central control, using local interactions that in the aggregate produce a collective outcome. Natural selection on collective behavior, as on any trait, acts in relation to ecological pressures. The project investigates the evolution of collective behavior in a natural population, linking the individual and collective levels, how selection pressure on collective behavior shifts in changing ecological conditions. The project draws on and continues a 30-year study of the demography, behavior, ecology and evolution of a population of colonies of the red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) in the desert of southwestern US, and develops a database that makes these data available for analysis. Previous work shows that desert harvester ant colonies regulate foraging activity to manage water stress, using brief olfactory interactions between outgoing and returning foragers inside the nest. Colonies vary in how they regulate foraging activity, and previous work conducted in drought conditions, shows this is associated with colony reproductive success in offspring colonies. The project examines how changing ecological conditions, especially rainfall, lead to shifts in the selection pressures that link foraging activity and reproductive success. Reduced representation genomic sequencing will be used to identify parent-offspring pairs of colonies, and thus measure reproductive success in number of offspring colonies. The heritability from parent to offspring colonies of the regulation of foraging will be investigated. A genome-wide association study will be conducted to investigate the genetic architecture underlying this variation in collective behavior.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.