RUI: Communication and Predator Defense by Ground- Transmitted Vibrations

这项研究考察了一种以前从未详细研究过的独特交流形式的机制和功能。兰德尔博士正在研究一种夜间活动的沙漠啮齿动物--旗尾袋鼠--如何与其他袋鼠交流自己的身份，并通过在地面上敲击后脚来保护自己免受捕食者的攻击，这种震动既可以通过地面传播，也可以通过空气传播。她和她的学生将(1)描述敲脚信号的基本模式以及这些模式如何识别单个动物，(2)研究信号是如何通过沙漠土壤和空气传递的，(3)描述老鼠对敲脚信号做出反应的行为变化，(4)研究敲脚作为防御蛇类捕食者的方法，以及(5)分析与单个老鼠的年龄和健康有关的信号产生的差异，与邻居信号数量的差异，以及在领土防御、捕食者防御和交配竞争的背景下产生的信号的差异。这项研究将丰富我们对沟通如何与小型夜间活动哺乳动物的社会组织相关的一般理解。它将有助于了解小动物如何保护自己免受捕食者的攻击，以及动物社会组织如何适应沙漠环境。了解沙漠中生命网络中发生的相互作用，对于美国西南部脆弱的沙漠生态系统的管理和保护决策将是有价值的。

This research examines the mechanisms and functions of a unique form of communication, never before studied in detail. Dr. Randall is investigating how a nocturnal desert rodent, the banner-tailed kangaroo rat, communicates its identity to other kangaroo rats and protects itself from predators by drumming its hind feet on the ground, creating vibrations that are transmitted both through the ground and through the air. She and her students will (1) describe the basic patterns in the foot- drumming signal and how these identify individual animals, (2) study how the signal is transmitted through the desert soil and air, (3) describe the changes in behavior of rats in response to a foot-drumming signal, (4) study foot-drumming as a defense against snake predators, and (5) analyze differences in the signals produced in relation to the age and health of individual rats, to differences in the number of neighbors' signals, and in contexts of territorial defense, predator defense, and mating competition. This research will enrich our general understanding of how communication is related to the social organization of small, nocturnal mammals. It will contribute to knowledge of how small animals defend themselves against their predators, and of how animal social organizations have adapted to a desert environment. An understanding of the interactions that occur in the web of life in a desert will be valuable in management and conservation decisions about the fragile desert ecosystems of the southwestern United States.