The Role of Vision in Cichlid Mate Choice and Speciation: Integration of Biology, Chemistry and Physics in Research and in the Classroom

主要科学学科的重大进展已经模糊了生物学、化学和物理学之间的界限。 在此访问教授，卡尔顿博士将建立在她的化学和物理专业知识，获得新的生物能力。 通过获得大学水平的教学经验和建立跨学科的研究计划，她将从工业界过渡到学术界，在这个令人兴奋的科学接口工作。 卡尔顿博士将开发一门新的物理学入门课程，完全通过生物学的例子来教授物理概念。 该课程将侧重于与理解生物有机体最相关的物理概念，最有可能吸引生物学学生。 卡尔顿博士还将对非洲马拉维湖的慈鲷鱼的视觉系统进行研究。 这些鱼经历了异常快速的辐射，这被认为是由性选择驱动的。 虽然视觉通信在慈鲷择偶中起着关键作用，但人们对视觉信号（雄性颜色图案）或其接收（雌性视觉光谱敏感性）的光谱特性知之甚少。 研究的目标是相互关联的视觉能力，颜色模式，和光环境，以评估配偶选择发挥了什么作用，在产生壮观的慈鲷鱼的多样性。

Significant advances in the primary scientific disciplines have blurred the boundaries between biology, chemistry, and physics. During this visiting professorship, Dr. Carleton will build on her chemical and physical expertise by gaining new biological capabilities. By acquiring college-level teaching experience and establishing an interdisciplinary research program, she will make the transition from industry to academia to work at this exciting scientific interface. Dr. Carleton will develop a new course in introductory physics, teaching physical concepts entirely through biological examples. The course will focus on physical concepts most relevant to understanding biological organisms and most likely to engage biology students. Dr. Carleton also will carry out research on the visual system of cichlid fishes from Lake Malawi, Africa. These fishes have undergone an extraordinarily rapid radiation, which is thought to have been driven by sexual selection. While visual communication plays a key role in cichlid mate choice, little is known about the spectral characteristics of the visual signals (male color patterns) or their reception (female visual spectral sensitivities). The goals of the research are to interrelate the visual capabilities, the color patterns, and the photic environment to assess what role mate choice has played in generating the spectacular diversity of cichlid fishes.