Phenotypic, genetic and demographic responses to environmental variation and inbreeding in the song sparrow

我的工作延续了35年的研究，这项研究已经成为了解人类影响和环境因素如何影响种群持续和物种进化的模型系统。我提议的这项新工作将评估遗传变异、褐头牛鸟对幼鸟的寄生以及气候变化对北美西部少量鸟类个体健康和持久性的短期和长期影响。我工作的一个总体目标是确定最有可能影响种群总体增长和灭绝速度的因素并对其进行排序，特别是确定那些最有可能被野生动物管理者为了稀有和濒危物种的利益而改善的因素。我对这项工作的方法一直是开发一个研究模型系统，其中关于近亲繁殖和单独标记的歌雀(Melospiza Melodia)的性能的详细信息被持续监测，这是一种典型的雀科鸟类。这些数据随后被应用于解决生态、进化和保护方面的复杂问题。特别是，由于我研究的遗传和人口因素经常被认为是对世界各地物种种群持续生存的威胁，我的工作提供了一种实用而廉价的方法来识别对种群和物种最严重的威胁，并提供了可能恢复这些种群和物种的可靠管理策略。总体而言，我的工作提供了独特的机会来回答自然界中的复杂问题，并培养杰出的年轻科学家，而不需要花费巨大的费用和精力开始对更难监测的物种进行新的研究。我自己和学生的工作成果出现在几本教科书中，受到全世界的关注，并应该在未来继续这样做。

My work continues a 35 year study that has become a model system for understanding how human influence and environmental factors affect the persistence of populations and evolution of species. The new work I propose will estimate the short and long-term effects of genetic variation, brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds and climate change on the fitness individuals and persistence of small populations of birds in western North America. An overall goal of my work is to identify and rank factors most likely to affect the growth and extinction rates of populations generally and, in particular, to identify those factors most likely to be ameliorated by wildlife managers for the benefit of rare and endangered species. My approach to this work has been to develop a model system of study wherein detailed information on inbreeding and the performance of individually-marked song sparrows (Melospiza melodia), an archetypical passerine bird, is monitored continuously. These data are then applied to solve complex problems in ecology, evolution and conservation. In particular, because the genetic and demographic factors I study have often been identified as threats the persistence of populations of species around the world, my work offers a practical and inexpensive approach to identifying the most severe threats to populations and species, and the msot reliable management tactics to likely recover these populations and species. Overall, my work provides unique opportunities to answer complex questions in nature and train outstanding young scientists without the enormous expense and effort of embarking on new studies of species that are harder to monitor. The results of my own and student's work appear in several textbooks, receive attention world-wide, and should continue to do so in future.