RUI: Foraging Behavior and the Role of Social Transmission

RUI：觅食行为和社会传播的作用

• 批准号: 9514137
• 负责人: Jennifer Clarke
• 金额: $ 4.82万
• 依托单位: University of Northern Colorado
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-03-01 至 1998-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9514137&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Foraging; Behavior; Role; Social

Abstract Clarke 9514117 Obtaining food is one of the most critical problems faced by young animals, particularly precocial young that must seek out the correct foods to eat soon after birth. The development of feeding behavior is a critical area of study considering the high mortality rate of juvenile birds attributable to starvation and predation due to inept foraging behaviors. These high mortality rates indicate that selective pressures must be intense for the rapid development of foraging skills. Three factors may contribute to food recognition in gallinaceous species: a) innate pecking preferences, b) taste and nutritional factors, and c)social transmission. It is likely that all three factors operate together to enhance and expedite food recognition and the development of foraging behavior. This study proposes to investigate the development of foraging behavior in an alpine grouse, the White-tailed Ptarmigan, whose precocial chicks must identify food species in the wide array of items presented in the alpine tundra soon after hatching. The interrelationship of social and nutritional factors influencing food choice will be the study's primary focus. Preliminary data indicate that the hens emit unique vocalizations (food calls) when specific items are located. Chicks respond to the food calls by approaching the hen's bill and feeding on the same species she is eating. Further, the plant species that elicit hen food calls become the major items in the chick's diets. The foods eliciting food calls also may differ from other foods eaten by the hen that do not elicit food calls in their nutritional content (e.g. prmtein). Thus the question arises: Do the hens' food calls function to focus the chicks' feeding choices through socially transmitted food recognition? The first hypothesis that will be investigated is that chicks will forage more often on those foods to which elicit hen food calls than they will on foods which do not elicit food calls because the call represents a form of soc ial transmission that enhances the chicks' recognition of specific foods. White-tailed Ptarmigan provide an ideal species for field studies of the ontogeny of foraging behaviors because hens with chicks accommodate to human observers, are reluctant to fly, have high site fidelity, and forage in the alpine where the vegetation is low in stature and relatively low in diversity all of which facilitates foraging observations. Also, the foraging selections of the adult ptarmigan are documented as are their nutritional profiles. Experimental manipulations would be advantageous in testing the hypotheses but are not possible for a variety of reasons. However, the hypotheses can be thoroughly investigated by exploiting natural variations within the population regarding food calling. The hens within the population vary in food calling frequency, ranging from hens that emit food calls during nearly every feeding bout to hens that were never heard to emit a food call. Thus, in lieu of direct manipulations, comparisons will be made between broods of hens that exhibit variations in food calling regarding diet shifting. This research represents one of the first studies to address directly the function of social transmission conducted with wild animals in their natural habitat. ***

摘要 克拉克9514117 获得食物是年轻动物面临的最关键问题之一，特别是早熟的年轻人，他们必须在出生后不久寻找正确的食物。由于不适当的觅食行为导致的饥饿和捕食导致幼鸟的高死亡率，因此觅食行为的发展是一个关键的研究领域。这些高死亡率表明，选择的压力必须是激烈的觅食技能的快速发展。三个因素可能有助于鸡类物种的食物识别：a）先天啄食偏好，B）口味和营养因素，以及c）社会传播。这三个因素可能共同作用，以加强和加快食物识别和觅食行为的发展。 本研究旨在探讨觅食行为的发展，在高山松鸡，白尾雷鸟，其早熟小鸡必须确定食物种类的广泛的项目提出在高山冻原孵化后不久。影响食物选择的社会和营养因素的相互关系将是研究的主要焦点。初步数据表明，母鸡发出独特的声音（食物呼叫）时，特定的项目定位。小鸡对食物的反应是靠近母鸡的喙，吃她正在吃的同一种食物。此外，引起母鸡食物呼叫的植物物种成为小鸡饮食中的主要项目。引起食物鸣叫的食物也可能与母鸡所吃的其他食物不同，这些食物在营养成分上不会引起食物鸣叫（例如，蛋白质）。因此，问题出现了：母鸡的食物叫声是否通过社会传播的食物识别来集中小鸡的喂养选择？第一个要研究的假设是，小鸡会更经常地觅食那些能引起母鸡食物叫声的食物，而不是那些不引起食物叫声的食物，因为叫声代表了一种增强小鸡对特定食物识别的动物传播形式。 白尾雷鸟提供了一个理想的物种觅食行为的个体发育的实地研究，因为母鸡与小鸡适应人类观察员，不愿意飞，有很高的网站保真度，并在高山上的植被是低的身材和相对较低的多样性，所有这些都有利于觅食观察。此外，觅食选择的成年雷鸟记录是他们的营养概况。实验操作将有利于检验假设，但由于各种原因是不可能的。然而，这些假设可以通过利用种群中关于食物召唤的自然变异来彻底研究。种群中的母鸡在食物呼叫频率上各不相同，从几乎每次喂食时发出食物呼叫的母鸡到从未听到发出食物呼叫的母鸡。因此，代替直接操作，将在表现出关于饮食改变的食物呼唤变化的母鸡的窝之间进行比较。 这项研究代表了第一个研究，直接解决社会传播的功能与野生动物在其自然栖息地进行。 ***