Objective
Sexual selection has two intuitive but overlooked implications for epidemics. First, infectious diseases spread when individuals contact each other. Reproduction is a major driver of contact: mate preferences should affect who contacts whom, and thus parasite transmission opportunity. Sexual selection research shows that choosers prefer mates with high quality ornaments, which generally indicate parasite resistance, but the predicted epidemiological consequence of such contact with more resistant individuals – that transmission slows – is untested. Second, choosers selecting mates that resist parasite infection may benefit indirectly as this increases the parasite resistance of their offspring. If choosers consistently produce offspring with the most genetically resistant mates, population-level parasite resistance should increase through generations: again, untested.
I will leverage essential existing knowledge and artificial selection lines of the Trinidadian guppy, its gyrodactylid parasites, and a successful workflow I have developed, to test how variation in female preference affects epidemics in three ways. First, I will run replicate experimental epidemics in groups of individually identified guppies, tracked using machine learning, in which females do, or do not prefer males with larger orange ornaments. These ornaments indicate parasite resistance in this system. Second, I will assay the offspring produced post-epidemic for parasite resistance and paternity. I predict that epidemics in which females prefer ornamented males will be slower, and the offspring produced will be more resistant to parasites. Finally, I will use the results from both experiments to refine a mathematical model. We will validate model predictions with surveys of natural populations known to vary in female preference for males with larger orange ornaments. The resulting framework of how sexual selection affects parasite transmission will improve our predictions of epidemic dynamics.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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10691 Stockholm
Sweden
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