Social Organization and Task Allocation

社会组织与任务分配

• 批准号: 9705366
• 负责人: Paul Sherman
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Cornell Univ - State: AWDS MADE PRIOR MAY 2010
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1997
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1997-09-01 至 2001-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9705366&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Social; Organization; Task; Allocation

9705366 Social Organization and Task Allocation in a Eusocial Mannal The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) occupies a unique place among social vertebrates because of its behavioral similarities to cooperatively breeding birds and mammals on the one hand and eusocial insects on the other. Naked mole- rats are playing a pivotal role in attempts to unite occurrences of alloparental care in vertebrates invertebrates under a single theoretical and terminological umbrella, to understand the relative importance of extrinsic (i.e, ecological), intrinsic (kinship), and historical factors in the evolution of eusociality, and identify proximate and ultimate sources of conflict and cooperation in animal societies. However, comparative behavioral and evolutionary analyses are presently stalled by lack of information, or existence of conflicting results, on key details of intra-colonial social organization and task allocation. The P.I. s research will address this need by quantifying the behavior of mole-rats in 5 captive colonies (n=126 animals, presently) housed in transparent burrow systems. Four specific questions will investigated: (1) Is there a specialized dispersive morph, or are putative dispersers actually colony defenders instead?, (2) Are burrows excavated primarily by large individuals or small individuals, or do large and small individuals participate, but in different aspects of burrow excavation?, (3) Do particular colony members seek environmental heat sources and then transfer heat to nest mates (like living hot water bottles), thereby improving the work efficiency of the entire colony?, and (4) How accurate is the recently- discovered foraging recruitment system: do scouts that find new food sources lay polarized trails to them, and how precisely do the communicate information about food quantity, quality, distance, and divisibility to potential recruits? For each question, straightforward, non-invasive experiments and observations will y ield strong inference tests of alternative hypotheses. Overall, this research will deepen our understanding of individual and group-level adaptations in one of the most remarkably complex, cooperation mammalian societies on earth.

裸鼹鼠（Heterocephalus glaber）在社会性脊椎动物中占有独特的地位，因为它的行为一方面与合作繁殖的鸟类和哺乳动物相似，另一方面与真社会性昆虫相似。裸鼹鼠在试图将脊椎动物和无脊椎动物中的同种异体照料事件统一在一个单一的理论和术语保护伞下，以了解外部（即生态），内在（亲属关系）和历史因素在真社会性进化中的相对重要性，并确定动物社会中冲突与合作的近端和最终来源方面发挥着关键作用。然而，比较行为和进化的分析，目前停滞不前的信息缺乏，或存在相互矛盾的结果，对殖民地内的社会组织和任务分配的关键细节。私家侦探的研究将解决这一需要，量化的行为，鼹鼠在5个圈养殖民地（n=126动物，目前）在透明的洞穴系统。四个具体的问题将被调查：（1）是否有一个专门的分散变形，或假定的分散实际上是殖民地捍卫者代替？(2)洞穴挖掘主要是由大个体还是小个体进行的，还是大个体和小个体都参与，但在洞穴挖掘的不同方面？(3)是否特定的群体成员会寻找环境热源，然后将热量传递给巢友（如生活热水袋），从而提高整个群体的工作效率？以及（4）最近发现的觅食招募系统有多精确：发现新食物来源的侦察兵是否会向它们铺设两极化的踪迹，以及它们如何精确地向潜在的招募者传达食物数量、质量、距离和可分性等信息？对于每一个问题，直接的，非侵入性的实验和观察将产生强有力的推理测试的替代假设。总的来说，这项研究将加深我们对地球上最复杂、最合作的哺乳动物社会之一的个体和群体水平适应的理解。