CAREER: The role of local adaptation to reproductive conflict in the distribution of facultatively parthenogenetic reproduction

动物最常见的生殖机制涉及雄性和雌性，但通常是以雌性为代价的，并总体上降低了它们的繁殖率。或者，一些物种可以在有或没有雄性参与的情况下兼性繁殖。这种组合生殖模式为研究人员提供了一个令人信服的机会，让他们了解为什么生育雄性的生殖如此普遍。该项目将量化密度、生殖行为和繁殖模式之间的关系，在Opilione(收割机或长腿爸爸)组中具有这种兼性繁殖的物种的种群之间的关系。特别是，这项工作将评估何时发生生殖模式变化，以及这些变化是否针对男性骚扰行为。将使用一种新的遗传方法来确定后代是在男性参与或不参与的情况下产生的。此外，该项目将研究雌性对交配的抵抗是否会影响她们最终使用的生殖模式。参与该项目的学生将接受观察和分子研究方法方面的培训，这是关于生物多样性和全球应用的新实验室课程的一部分。还将为美国蜘蛛学会的一个新委员会制定和部署多样性、公平和包容性规划。这项研究得到了IOS行为系统和DEB进化过程计划的联合支持。尽管兼性孤雌生殖长期以来一直引起进化生物学家的兴趣，因为这些系统提供了检查替代生殖模式的进化适宜性益处的机会，但在自然系统中还没有探索维持生殖选择的局部适应机制和生殖模式的详细地理模式。此外，预测多种生殖模式的维持和模式的模型通常假设生殖模式是不可逆转的；这一假设尚未得到经验的建立。对性冲突的局部适应(LASC)假说被用来预测雌性何时何地会在不同的生殖模式之间切换。LASC预测，在雄性密度较高的栖息地，雌性会适应频繁的雄性胁迫，并会抵抗雄性的胁迫，采取孤雌生殖的生殖模式，特别是在繁殖季节的早期。或者，来自低密度、偏向女性的群体的女性不太可能对男性表现出敌意行为，和/或更容易被强迫的男性克服。因此，这项研究将表征男性密度、生殖行为和生殖模式的地理景观，以评估这一假说。这项研究和对LASC假说的有力评估将有助于我们理解生殖模式多样性的维持，特别是在未被研究的蜘蛛纲Opilions中。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。

The most common reproductive mechanism in animals involves males and females but often comes at a cost to females and reduces their rate of reproduction overall. Alternatively, some species can reproduce either with or without male involvement facultatively. This combinatory reproductive mode presents a compelling opportunity for researchers to understand why reproduction that produces males is so widespread. The project will quantify the relationships between density, reproductive behavior, and reproductive mode among populations of a species with just such facultative reproduction in the group Opiliones (harvestman or “daddy-longlegs”). In particular, the work will assess when reproductive mode changes occur, and whether they are in response to male harassment behavior. A novel genetic approach will be employed to identify whether offspring have been produced with or without the involvement of a male. In addition, the project will examine whether female resistance to mating affects the reproductive mode they ultimately use. Students involved in the project will be trained in observational and molecular research approaches as part of a new laboratory course on biodiversity and global applications. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programming for a new committee for the American Arachnological Society will also be developed and deployed. This research is being jointly supported by IOS Behavioral Systems and DEB Evolutionary Processes programs.Although facultative parthenogenesis has long interested evolutionary biologists due to the opportunities presented by these systems to examine the evolutionary fitness benefits of alternative reproductive modes, locally adaptive mechanisms for the maintenance of reproductive alternatives, and detailed geographic patterns of reproductive mode have not been explored in natural systems. Additionally, models predicting the maintenance and pattern of multiple reproductive modes that are expressed facultatively commonly assume irreversibility of reproductive mode; an assumption that has not been established empirically. The local adaptation to sexual conflict (LASC) hypothesis was developed to predict when and where females would switch among reproductive modes. LASC predicts that females in habitats with high male density are adapted to frequent male coercion and will resist coercion by males and adopt parthenogenetic reproductive modes, particularly in the early breeding season. Alternatively, females from low-density, female-biased populations will be less likely to exhibit antagonistic behaviors towards males, and/or will be more easily overcome by coercive males. Thus, this study will characterize the geographic landscape of male density, reproductive behavior, and reproductive mode to evaluate this hypothesis. This study and the robust evaluation of the LASC hypothesis will make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the maintenance of reproductive mode diversity, particularly in the understudied arachnid order, Opiliones.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.