Environmental and genetic components of a major evolutionary transition: social plasticity in halictine bees.

社会性的进化是进化生物学的主要转变之一。关于帮助起源的理论的关键试验场是原始的社会分类群，在这些分类群中，行为是高度可塑性的。这些物种的社会表型在时间和空间上都不同，从非社会性到完全社会性。社会表型的差异与纬度、海拔和栖息地特征等因素有关。然而，差异在多大程度上是基于遗传的，或者代表条件敏感的表型表达，几乎是未知的。我们的研究将使用大规模操控田间实验和分子遗传分析相结合的方法：(1)检验种群间社会表型的差异是否代表遗传分化，或者是对环境条件的表型反应。(2)研究不同社会表型之间的环境梯度转换。(3)在两种社会形式之间的过渡地带，量化两种社会形式之间的生殖隔离程度。(4)检验在种内系统发育中，社会种群是否形成有别于非社会种群的类群。这项工作将涉及伦敦大学学院和贝尔法斯特女王大学的研究人员之间的合作，雇用一名博士后研究员和75%的时间技术员。研究系统将以英国的汗蜂种群为研究对象。

The evolution of sociality is one of the major transitions in evolutionary biology. The key testing ground for theories concerning the origin of helping have been primitively eusocial taxa, in which behaviour is highly plastic. Social phenotype varies within these species, both temporally and spatially, from non-social to fully eusocial. Differences in social phenotype are correlated with factors such as latitude, altitude and habitat features. Yet the extent to which differences are genetically based, or represent condition-sensitive phenotypic expression, is almost unknown. Our research will use a combination of large-scale manipulative field experiments and molecular genetic analyses: (1) To test whether inter-population variation in social phenotype represents genetic differentiation or is a phenotypic response to environmental conditions. (2) To investigate the transition between social phenotypes along an environmental gradient. (3) To quantify the degree of reproductive isolation between the two social forms at a transition zone between them. (4) To test whether social populations form a grouping distinct from non-social populations in an intraspecific phylogeny. The work will involve a collaboration between researchers at University College London and Queen's University Belfast, employing a postdoctoral researcher and a 75% time technician. The study system will be British populations of sweat bees.