Female competition and maternal effects in a social mammal

母体效应在广泛的生态和进化过程中发挥着重要作用，如种群动态、表型可塑性和对选择的进化反应。这个项目将研究雌性竞争如何在群居哺乳动物中驱动这种影响。学生将开发和测试假设，以调查母亲所经历的竞争环境如何影响其后代的生长、行为和生育能力。一种实验方法将利用一种典型的社会脊椎动物--家鼠(Mus Musculus Home Ticus)，在精心控制的半自然条件下进行。我们将探索不同的社会条件(例如，竞争对手的存在或不存在)如何影响产妇护理和生理，并测试母亲的竞争表型和社会环境如何相互作用，影响后代的发育(例如，后代的生长、生育、社会行为和竞争能力)。除了在社会背景下促进对母体和早期生命影响的基本了解外，该项目还可能应用于出于保护和其他目的的动物种群管理。最近在自然人口中进行的几项备受瞩目的研究突显了更好地了解竞争条件下母体影响的必要性。因此，这个项目提供了一个及时检验新兴假说的机会。在模型脊椎动物中操纵社会环境的实验方法允许学生在严格的环境中开发和测试新想法。结合应用一系列分析技术来分析荷尔蒙反应、行为和生育能力，这为理解社会动物对环境变化的反应提供了重要的新见解，并对管理自然种群产生了影响。

Maternal effects have important roles in a broad range of ecological and evolutionary processes, such as population dynamics, phenotypic plasticity and evolutionary responses to selection. This project will investigate how female competition drives such effects in a social mammal. The student will develop and test hypotheses to investigate how the competitive environment experienced by mothers influences the growth, behaviour and fertility of their offspring. An experimental approach will utilise a model social vertebrate, the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus), under carefully controlled semi-natural conditions. We will explore how contrasting social conditions (e.g. the presence or absence of competitors) affect maternal care and physiology, and test how the maternal competitive phenotype and social environment interact to influence offspring development (e.g. offspring growth, fertility, social behaviour and competitive ability). In addition to advancing fundamental understanding of maternal and early-life effects in a social context, this project has potential applications in the management of animal populations for conservation and other purposes. The need to better understand maternal influences under competitive conditions has been highlighted by several recent high-profile studies in natural populations. This project thus offers a timely opportunity to test emerging hypotheses. The experimental approach of manipulating the social environment in a model vertebrate allows for a rigorous context within which the student can develop and test new ideas. Combined with the application of a range of analytical techniques for assaying hormonal responses, behaviour and fertility, this promises significant new insights for understanding responses of social animals to environmental change, with impact for managing natural populations.