Intersexual arms races - are individuals within marine meta-populations less able to interbreed than assumed?

元种群结构被认为描述了许多海洋动物种群与分散的幼虫的相互联系的性质。然而，新的理论预测，尽管幼虫迁徙，但其中一些种群可能根本不是非常相互联系的。在某些情况下，性别之间独立的、共同进化的军备竞赛可能会在当地人口中发展，导致个人越来越不能自由杂交。我将直接测试这一点，衡量广播产卵者跨种群交叉受精的成功程度。这将揭示这些种群的遗传结构，如果这些动物真的生活在元种群中。

A meta-population structure is thought to describe the inter-connected nature of many populations of marine animals with dispersive larvae. However, new theory predicts some of these populations might be not very inter-connected at all, despite larval migration. In some circumstances, independent, co-evolutionary arms races between sexes might develop within local populations, resulting in individuals becoming increasingly less able to interbreed freely. I will directly test for this, measuring how successfully broadcast spawners can cross-fertilise across populations. This will reveal the genetic structure of these populations and if these animals really do live in a meta-population.