Dissertation Research: Strategies in an Uncertain Environment-How Well Do Animals Cope With Shifting Risks

9700515 Morris大多数生物生活在不可预测的环境中，必须使用不完整的信息来决定何时何地繁殖。 尽管有许多理论研究预测了动物在这种不确定性面前应该如何表现，但很少有实地研究量化了动物对空间和时间不可预测的死亡风险的生殖反应方式。 更少的研究量化了动物如何利用信息来减少生殖风险，与天真或无所不知的策略相比。 在秘鲁的季节性低地雨林中，青蛙Edalorhina perezi和其他两栖动物优先在小型树木瀑布池中产卵，在那里，卵和蝌蚪经历的死亡风险在池之间不同，并根据不可预测的降雨量而随时间变化。 通过观察青蛙产卵的行为和游泳池之间的运动，我将评估它们如何分配后代。 我的方法将结合联合收割机在自然水池中对风险和青蛙行为的观察，一个使用人工水池测试青蛙跟踪变化风险的能力的实验，以及一个模型来确定青蛙与其他风险评估能力的策略相比表现如何。

9700515 Morris Most organisms live in unpredictable environments, and must make decisions such as where and when to reproduce using incomplete information. Despite numerous theoretical studies that have predicted how animals should behave in the face of such uncertainty, few field studies have quantified the ways that animals respond reproductively to mortality risks that are spatially and temporally unpredictable. Even fewer studies have quantified how well animals use information to reduce reproductive risks, when compared to either naive or omniscient strategies. In a seasonal lowland rain forest in Peru, the frog Edalorhina perezi and other amphibians preferentially lay eggs in small tree-fall pools, where the eggs and tadpoles experience mortality risks that differ among pools and change temporally depending on unpredictable rainfall. By observing frog egg-laying behavior and movement among pools, I will assess how well they distribute their offspring. My approach will combine observations of risks and frog behavior in natural pools, an experiment using artificial pools to test the frogs' abilities to track changing risks, and a model to determine how well the frogs perform compared to other strategies that range in risk-assessment capabilities.