Predators around: should I stay or should I go? Mum knows it. Role of maternal effect in an adaptive dispersal decision.

动物扩散是指个体离开其先前的栖息地。这一看似简单的现象对一系列关键的生态过程产生了重要影响，并最终影响到物种的持久性。事实上，通过扩散，动物在现代异质和多变的景观中找到合适的栖息地。 迁移是一种个人决定，是在迁移的利益和成本之间取得平衡的决定，这种平衡因个人的表型和生态环境而异。面对相同的当地条件，个体会以不同的方式分散，以最大限度地提高其生存和繁殖成功率。评估重要的环境因素，如捕食风险，可能会证明是困难的，特别是在主要由幼鱼进行分散的物种中。在这方面，母亲在相关的生殖事件中收到的捕食者线索是新生儿的重要信息来源。因此，自然选择应该有利于那些能够利用纳塔尔环境的信息来微调其后代扩散趋势的雌性。这种母体调节可能发生，尤其是在胎生脊椎动物中，因为怀孕期间母亲和胎儿之间的密切接触。因此，捕食者诱导的母体效应会影响后代的扩散决策，促进它们对当地捕食环境的适应。本项目旨在阐明，如果怀孕的普通蜥蜴（Zootoca vivipara）使用捕食风险线索，以影响其后代的扩散趋势和整体表型。我将测试这些假设，1）操纵母亲和后代的感知捕食风险，2）在一个高度现实的半自然环境中测量后代的扩散，生长，生存和繁殖。这是第一个实证研究的母亲对后代的适应性捕食依赖扩散的脊椎动物。

Animal dispersal is the movement of individuals away from their previous living habitat. This apparently simple phenomenon has important consequences over a series of key ecological processes and, ultimately, on species persistence. Indeed, by means of dispersal, animals find suitable habitats within the modern heterogeneous and changeable landscapes. Dispersal is an individual decision, over the balance between benefits and costs of moving, which varies in relation to individual phenotype and ecological context. Facing the same local conditions individuals will disperse differently in order to maximize their survival and reproductive success.The evaluation of vital environmental factors, such as predation risk, may prove difficult, particularly in species in which dispersal is carried out mostly by juveniles. To this respect, the predator cues received by the mother during relevant reproductive events represent a vital source of information for the newborns. Therefore, natural selection should favour females that are able to use such information on the natal environment to fine-tune the dispersal tendencies of their offspring. This maternal regulation may occur, a fortiori, in viviparous vertebrates, because of the close contact between mother and fetus during pregnancy. Predator-induced maternal effect would thus influence offspring dispersal decisions, facilitating their adaptation to the local predatory environment. This project aims at clarifying, if pregnant common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) use predation risk cues to influence the dispersal tendencies and overall phenotype of their offspring. I will test these hypotheses, 1) manipulating perceived predation risk in both mothers and offspring and 2) measuring offspring dispersal, growth, survival and reproduction in a highly realistic semi-natural setting. This is the first empirical study of maternal influence over offspring adaptive predation-dependent dispersal in a vertebrate.