NSFGEO-NERC: Integrating Individual Personality Differences in the Evolutionary Ecology of a Seabird in the Rapidly Changing Polar Environment

第一部分：非技术描述：该奖项代表了美国国家科学基金会和英国自然环境研究委员会(NERC)的研究人员在各自国家的资助下在各自国家开展的地球科学合作研究工作(尊敬的同事信NSF 16-132)。这项研究将集中于了解南大洋信天翁种群的行为、生态和进化之间的联系，以应对全球气候变化和自然资源开发。动物对全球变化最直接的反应通常是行为，这项工作将提供更全面的理解，了解个体鸟类行为的差异如何影响种群在不断变化的环境下的进化和适应。在长时间尺度上收集的信天翁个性、生活史特征和种群动态的特征将被用来开发面对未来全球变化的物种持久性的稳健预测。该项目的结果将为南大洋濒危物种的保护和管理决策提供依据。这项工作还将用于提供各级具体的研究培训，包括博士后学者、研究生和K-12学生。它还将通过动画、公开讲座、印刷媒体和网络媒体，支持公众了解人类活动对极地生态系统的影响。第二部分：技术描述过去的研究表明，个体动物的个性在行为的连续体上是不同的，因此一些个体总是比其他个体更具攻击性、更具探索性和更大胆。种群内个性和觅食行为类型的表型分布是如何由生态(人口和表型可塑性)和进化(遗传性)过程创造和维持的，仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。个性特征的差异决定了个体如何获得资源，以及如何将这些资源分配给生殖和生存。虽然一些研究发现不同人格类型的觅食行为或繁殖表现不同，但还没有人在全球变化的背景下建立觅食行为的人格差异与生活史(繁殖和生存及其协变)之间的联系。此外，觅食行为的可塑性没有被考虑在生活节奏综合症中，这潜在地阻碍了我们在个性和生活史之间寻找权衡的能力。该项目将填补这些知识空白，利用一个长期数据库，建立一个生态进化模型，研究个体个性与觅食可塑性、个性遗传力与觅食行为、生活史策略、在不断变化的环境(渔业和气候)中的种群动态之间的复杂相互作用，该数据库由一个长期数据库组成，该数据库包括约1,800只在南大洋繁殖的具有明确个性和生活史特征的漂流信天翁海鸟。气专委大气-海洋全球环流模型的气候预测将用于提供未来全球变化条件下的人口结构预测。具体地说，该团队将(1)表征沿着害羞-大胆的个性连续体和跨环境条件的生活史策略的差异；(2)在觅食努力和个性的表型可塑性之间建立联系；(3)表征个性和觅食行为的遗传性；(4)开发一个随机生态进化模型来预测不断变化的环境中的种群增长率。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Part I: Nontechnical description: This award represents a collaborative geoscience research effort between US NSF and UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) researchers with efforts in each nation funded by their respective countries (Dear Colleague Letter NSF 16-132). The research will focus on understanding the links between behavior, ecology, and evolution in a Southern Ocean wandering albatross population in response to global changes in climate and in exploitation of natural resources. The most immediate response of animals to global change typically is behavioral, and this work will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how differences individual bird behavior affect evolution and adaptation for the population under changing environments. Characterization of albatross personality, life-history traits, and population dynamics collected over long time scales will be used to develop robust forecasting of species persistence in the face of future global changes. The results of this project will feed into conservation and management decisions for endangered Southern Ocean species. The work will also be used to provide specific research training at all levels, including a postdoctoral scholar, graduate students and K-12 students. It will also support education for the public about impacts from human-induced activities on our polar ecosystems using animations, public lectures, printed and web media. Part II: Technical description Past research has shown that individual animal personalities range over a continuum of behavior, such that some individuals are consistently more aggressive, more explorative, and bolder than others. How the phenotypic distributions of personality and foraging behavior types within a population is created and maintained by ecological (demographic and phenotypic plasticity) and evolutionary (heritability) processes remain an open question. Differences in personality traits determine how individuals acquire resources and how they allocate these to reproduction and survival. Although some studies have found different foraging behaviors or breeding performances between personality types, none have established the link between personality differences in foraging behaviors and life histories (both reproduction and survival, and their covariations) in the context of global change. Furthermore, plasticity in foraging behaviors is not considered in the pace-of-life syndrome, which has potentially hampered our ability to find covariation between personality and life history trade-off. This project will fill these knowledge gaps and develop an eco-evolutionary model of the complex interactions among individual personality and foraging plasticity, heritability of personality and foraging behaviors, life history strategies, population dynamics in a changing environment (fisheries and climate) using a long-term database consisting of ~1,800 tagged wandering albatross seabirds (Diomedea exulans) with defined individual personalities and life history traits breeding in the Southern Ocean. Climate projections from IPCC atmospheric-oceanic global circulation models will be used to provide projections of population structure under future global change conditions. Specifically, the team will (1) characterize the differences in life history strategies along the shy-bold continuum of personalities and across environmental conditions; (2) develop the link between phenotypic plasticity in foraging effort and personality; (3) characterize the heritability of personality and foraging behaviors; (4) develop a stochastic eco-evolutionary model to predict population growth rates in a changing environment.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.