Untangling links between mating, plasticity, and invasiveness using widow spiders

我研究种群是如何通过生殖性状的健身效果的可变生态和人口条件的形状。鉴于环境的快速变化和猖獗的生物入侵，了解繁殖成功和种群持续性的决定因素是迫切的。我的长期目标是了解生殖行为如何与局部适应的进化相联系，而不是在可变环境中的表型可塑性（不同基因型表型表达的个体差异）。越来越多的研究表明可塑性在种群持久性和入侵性中的重要性。然而，最近的评论强调了关于可塑性的基本问题仍然没有答案，包括可塑性本身是否是适应性的，以及它是否促进或限制局部适应。在这个建议中，我测试的假设，如何在人口密度和性别比例的波动可能会导致不同的性选择和进化的社会线索可塑性。这涉及到青少年发现预测他们成年后将面临的社会挑战的线索，并相应地调整他们的发展。发展的表型或行为可以在波动的条件下增加个体的成功，并且在种群水平上可以增加新栖息地的入侵潜力。我将测试预测我们目前的框架，了解可塑性的进化，使用详细的生态和行为的知识Latrodectus蜘蛛（寡妇蜘蛛物种），和一个不断发展的理解属Steatoda（假寡妇）。这两个属都包括成功的全球入侵者物种，以及尽管多次引入但不具入侵性的类似同源物。Latrodectus物种表现出一些最极端的交配记录日期，包括性食人，精子栓，高死亡率在配偶搜索，并与未成熟的女性交配。所有这些特征都可能导致强烈的性选择，与人口密度和性别比例密切相关。我建议综合实地和实验室研究，让各级受训人员参与，重点是三个目标。首先，确定在可变环境中繁殖成功的决定因素作为密度和性别比例的函数。第二，确定成年人的特质表达与健康的联系，以及预测这种关系的社会线索。第三，确定基因表达变化的可塑性。与受训者和合作者一起对Latrodectus蜘蛛进行了20多年的研究，对生殖健康如何取决于其生物学，生态学和性选择的不同方面有了透彻的了解。结合新兴的分子工具蜘蛛，这方面的知识将确保这里提出的工作将推进我们的可塑性，弹性和环境变化下的入侵性的理解，水泥Latrodectus作为一个“模型分支”的可塑性研究。

I study how populations are shaped by variable ecological and demographic conditions via the fitness effects of reproductive traits. Given rapid environmental change and rampant biological invasions, understanding determinants of reproductive success and population persistence is urgent. My long-term goal is to understand how reproductive behaviours are tied to the evolution of local adaptation vs phenotypic plasticity (individual variation in phenotypic expression of different genotypes) in variable environments. A growing body of work suggests the importance of plasticity in population persistence and invasiveness. Nevertheless, recent reviews highlight fundamental questions about plasticity that remain unanswered, including whether plasticity itself is adaptive and whether it facilitates or constrains local adaptation. In this proposal, I test hypotheses about how fluctuations in population density and sex ratio can lead to divergent sexual selection and the evolution of socially cued plasticity. This involves juveniles detecting cues that predict the social challenges they will face as adults, and adjusting their development accordingly. The phenotypes or behaviours that develop increase individual success under fluctuating conditions, and at the population level, can increase invasive potential in novel habitats. I will test predictions of our current framework for understanding the evolution of plasticity using a detailed knowledge of ecology and behaviour in Latrodectus spiders (widow spider species), and a developing understanding of the genus Steatoda (false widows). Both genera include species that are successful global invaders, as well as similar congeners that are not invasive despite repeated introductions. Latrodectus species exhibit some of the most extreme mating documented to date, including sexual cannibalism, sperm plugs, high mortality during mate search, and mating with immature females. All of these traits may lead to intense sexual selection, acutely tuned to population density and sex ratio. I propose integrated field and laboratory studies, engaging trainees at all levels, that focus on three objectives. First, identifying determinants of reproductive success in variable environments as a function of density and sex ratio. Second, determining how adult trait expression is linked to fitness, and the social cues that predict that relationship. Third, identifying the gene expression changes that underlie plasticity. Over 20 years of study of Latrodectus spiders with trainees and collaborators has yielded a thorough understanding of how reproductive fitness depends on different aspects of their biology, ecology, and shifting sexual selection. Combined with emerging molecular tools for spiders, this knowledge will ensure that the work proposed here will advance our understanding of plasticity, resilience, and invasiveness under environmental change, and cement Latrodectus as a `model clade' for the study of plasticity.