Understanding the links between animal sexual traits and environmental change

人类给全球环境带来了前所未有的变化。保护的一个主要优先事项是了解生物将如何应对环境变化，无论是物种对灭绝的脆弱性，还是面对新的压力时种群可能如何进化。物种的特征长期以来一直处于努力了解种群对环境变化反应的前沿，现有的研究侧重于生物地理和生态因素的重要性，如范围大小和栖息地宽度。然而，一个关键的问题是理解环境变化和物种的性别特征之间的相互作用。人们强烈期望，与配偶选择、性信号和繁殖相关的特征可能会影响物种对灭绝的脆弱性和/或对新环境条件的进化反应。本博士学位的目的是了解动物性特征与环境变化之间的关系，并阐明影响物种灭绝风险的因素和物种性别特征的当代进化。

Humans have brought unprecedented changes to environments worldwide. A major priority for conservation is to understand how organisms will respond to environmental change, both in terms of the vulnerability of species to extinction and how populations may evolve when faced with novel pressures.Species' traits have long been at the forefront of efforts to understand population responses to environmental change, with existing research focusing on the importance of biogeographic and ecological factors, such as range size and habitat breadth. However, a key question is understanding the interactions between environmental change and species' sexual characteristics. There are strong expectations that traits related to mate choice, sexual signalling, and reproduction may affect species' vulnerability to extinction and/or evolutionary responses to novel environmental conditions.The aim of this PhD is to understand the relationships between animal sexual traits and environmental change, and to shed light on the factors influencing extinction risk and the contemporary evolution of species' sexual traits.