Using Physiological Structure to Model Individual Production: A Simulation and Test

自然界中的动物和人类一样，在如何利用时间方面做出了复杂的决定。这些决定影响了它们获得食物的数量，以及它们如何利用这些食物来生长和繁殖，这反过来又影响了人口的规模和健康。如果pi能够理解动物环境的变化如何影响时间利用和生产（生长和繁殖）之间的联系，那么pi就可以更好地预测动物对环境变化（自然的或人为的）的反应。也许了解环境变化如何影响动物的最好方法是通过实验改变环境并观察它们的反应。在这个项目中，PI将实验性地增加一小部分自由放养的木响尾蛇的摄取量，并观察它们的行为、生理和产量相对于未受控制的对照组的变化。木响尾蛇是一种很好的研究动物，因为在外科手术放置的小型无线电发射器的帮助下，我们可以在自然环境中观察复杂的行为和生理。这个项目将在Ozark自然科学中心进行，这是一个位于阿肯色州西北部的非营利性自然科学教育中心。项目活动将直接有助于小学和高中阶段的儿童、大学本科生以及硕士和博士阶段的研究生的教育。

Beaupre 9728470 Animals in nature, like people, make complex decisions about how they use their time. These decisions influence the amount of food they obtain, and how they use that food to grow and reproduce, which in turn, influences the size and health of the population. If the PIs can understand how changes in an animal's environment affect connections between time use and production (growth and reproduction) then the PIs can make better predictions about the responses of animals to environmental change (natural, or human-caused). Perhaps the best way to understand how environmental change will influence animals is to experimentally change the environment and observe their responses. In this project, the PI will experimentally increase feeding in a small sample of free-ranging timber rattlesnakes, and observe changes in their behavior, physiology and production relative to an unmanipulated control group. The timber rattlesnake is an excellent study animal because with the help of small surgically placed radio transmitters we can observe complex behavior and physiology in a natural setting. This project will be conducted at the Ozark Natural Science Center, a non-profit natural science education center in Northwest Arkansas. Project activities will directly contribute to the education of children at the grade school and high school levels, college undergraduates, and graduate students at the Master's and Ph.D. levels.