RUI: Experimental Analysis of Territoriality in the Common Loon

RUI：普通潜鸟领地性的实验分析

• 批准号: 0316442
• 负责人: Walter Piper
• 金额: $ 18万
• 依托单位: Chapman University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-08-15 至 2007-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0316442&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Experimental; Analysis; Territoriality; Common

PIs: Walter H. Piper and Charles WalcottEXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF TERRITORIALITY IN THE COMMON LOONMany animals require a territory to breed. Among such animals, a crucial step is acquiring a territory for the first time. Surprisingly, scientists studying animal behavior are only beginning to learn about the strategies young animals use to obtain territories. One difficulty faced by scientists in this area is that young animals usually move great distances from their birthplace to breeding site. Common loons (Gavia immer) offer a unique opportunity to learn about territory acquisition. Ten years of field research on a marked population of these large aquatic diving birds has shown that young loons search for breeding territories very close to their natal lakes. Under the current study, investigators are experimentally testing hypotheses in two key areas: 1) strategies of young nonbreeders for learning about and taking over territories and 2) defense of territories against nonbreeders by established loons through acoustic signalling. A unique dimension of the project is a growing pool of nonbreeders marked as chicks in the study area that are being tracked as they acquire territories. The project has a number of impacts beyond its scientific merit. It is a partnership between a small college and a major research university that will support training of a doctoral student and 10-15 undergraduate interns, many of whom will continue into graduate programs. Data on juvenile survivorship and territory establishment, which are only available through this project, will be shared with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which requires them for a model of loon population stability. Finally, many findings of the research team will be featured on the website of Journey North, an online educational service that reaches about 400,000 schoolchildren in the U. S. and Canada.

PI：Walter H. Piper和Charles Walcott公地领地性的实验分析许多动物需要领地来繁殖。在这些动物中，关键的一步是第一次获得领地。令人惊讶的是，研究动物行为的科学家们才刚刚开始了解年轻动物用来获得领土的策略。科学家们在这一领域面临的一个困难是，年幼的动物通常要从出生地到繁殖地迁移很远的距离。普通潜鸟（Gavia immer）提供了一个独特的机会来了解领土收购。对这些大型水栖潜水鸟的一个显著种群进行了十年的实地研究，研究表明，年轻的潜鸟会在离它们纳塔尔湖泊非常近的地方寻找繁殖地。在目前的研究中，研究人员正在两个关键领域进行实验测试假设：1）年轻的非繁殖者学习和接管领土的策略，2）通过声音信号建立的潜鸟对非繁殖者的领土防御。该项目的一个独特之处在于，在研究区域内，越来越多的非繁殖者被标记为小鸡，当他们获得领土时，他们被跟踪。该项目除了其科学价值外，还有许多影响。这是一个小学院和一个主要的研究型大学之间的伙伴关系，将支持一个博士生和10-15个本科实习生的培训，其中许多人将继续进入研究生课程。只有通过这个项目才能获得的关于青少年生存率和领土建立的数据将与威斯康星州自然资源部分享，该部需要这些数据来建立一个青少年人口稳定的模型。最后，研究小组的许多发现将在北方之旅的网站上公布，这是一个在线教育服务，在美国有大约40万学童。S.和加拿大