Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C51932X/1
Genetic constraints on adaptive sex allocation behaviour.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor S West, University of Edinburgh, Inst of Evolutionary Biology
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr S Knott, University of Edinburgh, Sch of Biological Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Edinburgh, Inst of Evolutionary Biology
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Population Genetics/Evolution
- Behavioural Ecology
- Abstract:
- How perfect should animals be? There is little doubt that natural selection can produce animals with startlingly precise adaptations to their surroundings. However, at the same time it is well accepted that there are a variety of forces that can constrain adaptation and prevent perfection. These include a changing environment, historical or developmental constraints, complex underlying genetics, and limits on how individuals can process relevant information about the environment. Determining the relative importance of these opposing processes is a fundamental problem for evolutionary biologists. We are carrying out a long-term project to investigate the importance of the different possible constraints on adaptation. We are doing this by examining a single behaviour - how wasps adjust the sex of their offspring in response to environmental conditions. While this may sound like an esoteric behaviour, it is extremely useful for our purposes because its relation to Darwinian fitness (genes passed to the next generation) is extremely well understood. This proposal will address a key part of our long-term project - the constraints that the underlying genetics place on adaptation. We will examine the importance of genetic constraints by determining whether: (a) offspring sex is controlled by many genes with small effects, or few genes with large effects; (b) the genes involved in controlling offspring sex interact in simple or complex ways. Interactions between genes can constrain adaptation because they can lead to the same genes being selected for and against at different times in an animals life. We will carry out this work by utilising molecular biology techniques to determine where on the genome the genes involved in controlling offspring sex are. More generally, this work will also provide the fundamental first step in our long-term aim to understand behaviour at the level of the gene. The control of offspring sex in a wasp is a particularly exciting from this perspective because we already understand how it relates to Darwinian fitness, and the mechanisms involved. Consequently, we have the potential to link our understanding of this behaviour at all levels from the gene to the environment.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C51932X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £256,578
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - T&S | Total - Staff | Total - Other Costs | Total - Indirect Costs | Total - Equipment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £5,377 | £132,499 | £43,959 | £60,950 | £13,792 |
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