International Research Fellowship Program: Information Content and Signal Function of Song and Bright Plumage in a Wild Bird

[202704 . 04]帕克国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够到国外进行3至24个月的研究。该计划的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用独特或互补的设施、专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持Timothy H. Parker博士与Benjamin C. Sheldon博士在英国牛津大学进行为期24个月的研究。鸟的歌声是自然界中最普遍的声音之一。在许多物种中，歌声可能起到吸引配偶的作用，但这种可能性尚未得到充分研究。研究动物行为，如鸟类鸣叫，对我们了解自然的基本知识和解决保护和物种管理应用问题的能力都很重要。这个项目开辟了新的领域：1)使用实验操作来确定一个物种内个体之间鸣叫变化的原因；2)将鸣叫研究的结果与合作者正在进行的对同一种群中视觉（羽毛）信号和配偶吸引力的研究相结合。因此，这将是迄今为止对单一物种中多种信号（鸣叫和明亮羽毛）的相对条件依赖性和信号作用的最全面的研究。PI和他的合作者将在一种普通的欧洲鸟类中操纵幼雏的大小（从巢中添加或移除小鸡）。这操纵了对父母的供给需求和每只小鸡的食物供给，因此是一种被证明可以增加或减少父母和后代状况的方法。在操纵雏鸟后的第二年，PI将记录被操纵雏鸟的父亲的歌声，以及在被操纵雏鸟中长大的返回的雄鸟的歌声。这将是一个独特彻底的评估程度，其中不同的歌曲成分包含不同的信息，他们的条件。如果信号表达（如鸣叫）是条件依赖的，理论预测它在种内交流中是有用的。PI将评估歌曲在决定雄性获得雌性和雄性成功占领领地方面的不同方面的重要性。再一次，鸣声和羽毛的数据将被整合起来，以产生研究物种的性信号功能的全面图景。除了谢尔登博士，私家侦探还将与西蒙·格里菲斯博士合作。近年来，两位研究人员都参与了一些最重要的鸟类性选择研究。主办部门是世界上鸟类野外生态学研究的领先机构之一，具有半个多世纪的创新研究传统。

0202704ParkerThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four month research fellowship by Dr. Timothy H. Parker to work with Dr. Benjamin C. Sheldon at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.Bird song is one of the most ubiquitous sounds in nature. In many species, song may act to attract mates, but this possibility has not been well studied. Studying animal behaviors, such as bird song, is important both to our basic knowledge of nature and to our ability to address applied problems of conservation and species management. This project breaks new ground by 1) using experimental manipulations to determine the causes of variation in songs among individuals within a species and 2) integrating the results of the song study with the collaborators' ongoing study of visual (feather) signals and mate attraction in the same population. Thus, this will be the most comprehensive study to date of the relative condition dependence and signaling roles of multiple signals (song and bright feathers) within a single species. The PI and his collaborators will manipulate brood size (add or remove chicks from nests) in a common European bird. This manipulates the provisioning demands on the parents and the food delivered per chick and is thus a proven method for increasing or decreasing condition in both parents and offspring. In the year subsequent to brood manipulations, the PI will record the songs of the fathers of manipulated broods, and the songs of returning males who were reared in manipulated broods. This will be a uniquely thorough assessment of the degree to which different song components contain different information about their bearer's condition. If signal expression (i.e., song) is condition dependent, theory predicts that it can be useful in intra-specific communication. The PI will assess the importance of different aspects of song in determining male access to females and male success in holding a territory. Once again, song and plumage data will be integrated to generate a comprehensive picture of the function of sexual signals in the study species.In addition to Dr. Sheldon, the PI will collaborate with Dr. Simon Griffith. Both of researchers have been involved in some of the most important avian sexual selection research in recent years. The host department is one of the leading institutions in the world for the study of avian field ecology, with a tradition of innovative research extending back over a half a century.