Interactions of photoperiod, size-rank in the litter, and sex on development, stability and fitness components of the behavioural phenotype

光周期、窝内大小等级和性别对行为表型的发育、稳定性和适应性组成部分的相互作用

基本信息

批准号：
135044424
负责人：
Professor Dr. Fritz Trillmich
金额：
--
依托单位：
Arbeitsgruppe Verhaltensforschung
依托单位国家：
德国
项目类别：
Research Units
财政年份：
2009
资助国家：
德国
起止时间：
2008-12-31 至 2015-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/135044424?language=en
关键词：
Interactions photoperiod size rank litter

项目摘要

Ecological and social conditions have the potential to influence the ontogenetic development of behavioural phenotypes. However, there has so far been little experimental work aiming at determining and disentangling these early influences on the development of behavioural phenotypes. We chose photoperiod - as a predictor of expected ecological conditions - and sibling interactions within a litter as factors that are likely to influence the development of behavioural phenotypes in a wide spectrum of species. We have shown that photoperiod, as expected, strongly influences the development of behavioural phenotypes in cavies (Cavia aperea), even though the effects may be reversible. We will now study the resulting fitness effects through match-mismatch experiments where we place animals, reared under an artificial spring photoperiod in the lab, into the same or into an autumn photoperiod outdoors and vice versa with animals reared under autumn conditions. Besides photoperiod, we found size-rank in the litter and sex also influential in determining behavioural phenotypes. Such sibling effects are widely known among animals (and humans), but have hardly been studied experimentally. We now suggest to investigate these influences through cross-fostering experiments. We will exchange the largest or smaller pups in a litter to other litters in such a way that these pups either find themselves in the same size-rank as in their litter of origin or in the other position and will determine how this influences the development of their behavioural phenotypes. These experiments will enable us to disentangle how the interactions between photoperiod, size-rank in litter, and sex contribute to the developing behavioural phenotype. Additionally, these experiments should enable us to assess the influence of maternal and genetic effects on the developing behavioural phenotype. Through comparison of our data with those on altricial voles we expect to get a better understanding of the effects of different parental care patterns on the life history and behavioural phenotypes of young. To put the findings of these studies into a general framework we plan to model the connections and interactions between environmental and social factors and the development of behavioural phenotypes. In this way, our study will contribute substantial knowledge to the ontogenetic emergence of behavioural phenotypes, their stability and adaptiveness.

生态和社会条件有可能影响行为表型的个体发生发展。但是，到目前为止，几乎没有实验性的工作，旨在确定和解散这些早期对行为表型发展的影响。我们选择光周期 - 作为预期生态条件的预测指标，而垃圾中的兄弟姐妹相互作用是可能影响广泛物种中行为表型发展的因素。我们已经表明，正如预期的那样，光周期会强烈影响为Cavies（Cavia aperea）的行为表型的发展，即使效果可能是可逆的。现在，我们将通过对匹配不匹配的实验研究所得的健身效应，在该实验中，我们将动物放置在实验室中的人造弹簧光周期下，将动物饲养到相同的或秋季的秋季光周期中，反之亦然，在秋季条件下饲养的动物。除了光周期外，我们还发现了垃圾中的尺寸级，性别也对确定行为表型有影响。这种兄弟姐妹在动物（和人类）中广为人知，但几乎没有通过实验研究。现在，我们建议通过交叉培养实验研究这些影响。我们将在垃圾中将最大或较小的幼崽交换到其他垃圾的方式，以使这些幼犬发现自己处于与原产地窝或其他位置相同的尺寸级别，并将决定这如何影响其行为表型的发展。这些实验将使我们能够解散光周期，大小量表和性别之间的相互作用如何有助于发展的行为表型。此外，这些实验应该使我们能够评估母体和遗传作用对发展行为表型的影响。通过将我们的数据与富裕田鼠的数据进行比较，我们希望可以更好地了解不同父母护理模式对年轻人生活史和行为表型的影响。为了将这些研究的发现纳入一个一般框架，我们计划对环境和社会因素之间的联系和相互作用进行建模以及行为表型的发展。这样，我们的研究将为行为表型的个体发生出现，其稳定性和适应性提供大量知识。