Examining links between behaviour, plasticity and diversification under environmental heterogeneity using broadly distributed spider species

了解驱动和维持生物多样性的因素是当代生物学中的一个关键问题，特别是在物种面临快速气候变化、栖息地碎片化和其他挑战生存的环境变化的情况下。广泛了解生物体如何在各种尺度上对环境异质性作出反应，对于解决这些当代问题至关重要。一个可能具有预测能力的领域是对可塑性的研究--生物如何以及何时在不同的环境条件下改变特征表达。尽管面临环境挑战，但可塑性可能会增强种群的韧性；允许在比其他情况下更广泛的条件下生存，并为适应提供足够的时间。关于不同形式的可塑性的演化有许多假说，这些假说已经在植物和少数几个模型系统中得到了全面的测试。然而，由于这些模型的分类范围有限，我们的理解受到了阻碍。在这里，我提出的研究将通过测试分类群中适应性可塑性进化的假设来提供理解上的重大飞跃，我过去的工作已经为这些假设定义了与可塑性相关的生态和社会背景，并证明了田间和实验室实验研究的可操作性。我和我的研究人员将使用两种性相残的黑寡妇蜘蛛(

Understanding factors that drive and maintain biodiversity is a critical issue in contemporary biology, particularly as species are exposed to rapid climate change, habitat fragmentation, and other environmental alterations that challenge survival. A broad understanding of how organisms respond to environmental heterogeneity at a variety of scales is essential for addressing these contemporary problems. One area that may have predictive power is the study of plasticity-- how and when organisms vary in trait expression under variable environmental conditions. Plasticity may confer resilience for populations despite environmental challenges; allowing survival under a wider range of conditions than would otherwise be possible, and providing sufficient time for adaptation. There are many hypotheses for the evolution of different forms of plasticity, and these have been comprehensively tested in plants and a handful of model systems. Our understanding is hampered however, by the limited taxonomic range of these models. Here I propose studies that will provide a significant leap in understanding by testing hypotheses for the evolution of adaptive plasticity in taxa for which my past work has defined the ecological and social contexts linked to plasticity, and demonstrated the tractability of experimental study in the field and lab. My research personnel and I will use two species of sexually cannibalistic ‘black widow’ spiders (