The evolution of anticipatory maternal effects versus maternal condition transfer effects in Trinidadian killifish

人们早就知道，环境的变化会影响母亲养育后代的能力。因此，母亲应该在什么时候进化，以预测环境的变化，从而为她的后代提供最好的条件？本研究将通过测试关于驱动母亲后代供应策略的生态条件的假设来解决这个问题。这项工作的重点是特立尼达鳉，它们表现出易于量化的母体供应策略。此外，鳉鱼经历了广泛的生态条件。最后，鳉鱼很容易被操纵，这就允许对自然选择如何影响后代供应进行实验测试。因此，这项研究很好地定位于为产妇供应策略如何以及为什么演变提供新的见解。这项工作对理解生物体对环境变化作出反应的机制具有广泛的意义。此外，它将提高研究人员预测物种如何应对环境压力的能力。研究目标将与一项更广泛影响的计划相结合，该计划以鳉鱼为模型来改善教学，在西班牙裔服务机构的研究中吸引来自代表性不足群体的本科生，并提供公共宣传。许多研究都在探索母亲是否会通过改变后代的表型来最好地适应未来的条件，从而对环境信号的可预测变化做出反应。然而，几乎没有证据表明这种“预期的母性效应”的存在。这表明我们对母系效应进化的理解是不完整的。“母性条件转移效应”代表了雌性在发育过程中所经历的环境影响后代健康时所发生的预期效应的另一种选择。这些影响不是由外部信号驱动的，而是过去环境质量的副产品。条件转移效应受到的关注远远少于预期效应，但可能相当普遍。有趣的是，很少有研究考虑有利于进化的条件，条件转移和预期效应。该项目将利用特立尼达岛上的鳉鱼种群来实现三个中心目标。研究将：(1)确定捕食者介导的资源可用性差异是否有利于母体效应的进化转变（即条件转移与预期效应）。(2)通过“子代外植实验”，检验不同自然选择、母系条件和子代适合度之间的关系。(3)通过对自然溪流进行长期扰动，实验评估资源可用性对母体效应演化的影响。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。

It has long been known that changes in the environment can influence the ability of mothers to provision their offspring. Therefore, when should mom evolve to anticipate a change in the environment to best provision her offspring? This research will address this question by testing hypotheses regarding the ecological conditions that drive maternal offspring provisioning strategies. The work focuses on Trinidadian killifish, which exhibit maternal provisioning strategies that are easy to quantify. Additionally, killifish experience a wide range of ecological conditions. Finally, killifish are easy to manipulate, allowing for experimental tests of how natural selection influences offspring provisioning. Therefore, this research is well-positioned to provide new insights into how and why maternal provisioning strategies evolve. The work has broad implications for understanding the mechanisms by which organisms respond to environmental change. Further, it will improve researchers’ ability to forecast how species respond to environmental stressors. The research goals will be combined with a plan for broader impacts that that uses killifish as a model to improve teaching, engage undergraduates from underrepresented groups in research at a Hispanic serving institution, and provide public outreach.Much research has explored whether mothers respond to predictable shifts in environmental signals by modifying offspring phenotypes to best match future conditions. Yet, there is little evidence for the existence of such ‘anticipatory maternal effects’. This shows that our understanding of the evolution of maternal effects is incomplete. 'Maternal condition transfer effects' represents an alternative to anticipatory effects that occur when the environment experienced by females during development influences offspring fitness. These effects are not driven by external signals but are instead a byproduct of past environmental quality. Condition transfer effects have received far less attention that anticipatory effects but are likely quite widespread. Interestingly, little work has considered the conditions that favor the evolution condition transfer vs. anticipatory effects. This project will use populations of killifish on the island of Trinidad to pursue three central goals. The research will: (1) determine if predator-mediated divergence in resource availability favors evolutionary shifts in maternal effects (i.e., condition transfer vs. anticipatory effects). (2) Test the connection between divergent natural selection, maternal condition, and offspring fitness via ‘offspring outplant experiments’. (3) Experimentally evaluate the influence of resource availability on the evolution of maternal effects via long-term perturbations performed in natural streams.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.