RUI: Acoustic Detection in Free-Swimming Toadfish

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Neuroethology involves the study of brain mechanisms underlying behavior, but requirements for restraint and anesthesia for recording stability often have made it impossible to record activity of nerve cells while an animal is behaving normally in its environment. New advances in microelectrode recording and telemetry now are making such studies possible. The study here addresses the auditory sensitivity of a hardy teleost fish, the toadfish, which has been well studied for its sound production and hearing related to social and mating behavior. However, the specific parameters of the calls that guide female toadfish and mate selection under field conditions are poorly understood. The sound environment in shallow water is complex, and how females discriminate among sound sources is unclear. This project uses innovative novel technology and telemetry, including a multichannel 'sieve' electrode through which the auditory nerve has regenerated to allow long-term recording from single nerve fibers, and an implantable rechargeable radiotelemetry device. These experiments address physiological mechanisms underlying behavioral detection of underwater sound, detection and modulation of self-generated sound, and sound localization of relevant sources. There is some risk to this work given the technological and interpretive issues, but the potential impact is high. Results will be important beyond sensory neuroscience to neuroethology and animal behavior, and potentially to a variety of applications in engineering and robotics. This RUI activity will promote the career of a new PI who involves undergraduates, including Native Americans and other under-served groups, in an upper Midwest EPSCoR state in quality research, and who adds a unique opportunity for students to work in the summer at the outstanding facilities and educational center of the Marine Biological Laboratories in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.