Project
The pace of life of alternative mating strategiesThis PhD project will examine how alternative mating strategies (AMS) fit within the framework of the pace-of-life syndrome (POLS), a hypothesis predicting the coevolution of life-history traits, behavior, physiology, and metabolism linked to fitness. It aims to determine whether male morphotypes expressing AMS can combine so-called “slow” and “fast” traits along the "slow-fast continuum" described in POLS theory, and to what extent such trait expression is constrained by genetic architecture or modulated by proximal mechanisms. The study will use the European earwig (Forficula auricularia), an insect exhibiting pronounced male dimorphism and well-characterized AMS. It will integrate phenotypic and genetic approaches to identify covariances among fitness-related traits, while accounting for sex and morphotype. In addition, the role of juvenile hormone, a key candidate for proximal mediation of the POLS, will be tested experimentally through hormonal manipulations to assess its influence on trait expression and trait covariance. This work will provide the first integrated test of the POLS at both the proximal and genetic levels in a system with alternative mating strategies, and will contribute to a better understanding of how morphotypes of Forficula auricularia resolve genetic constraints on the optimal expression of life-history traits.
