International Research Fellowship Program: Flight and Motion Perception in Nocturnal Bees

国际研究奖学金计划：夜间蜜蜂的飞行和运动感知

• 批准号: 0401906
• 负责人: Jamie Theobald
• 金额: $ 14.43万
• 依托单位: Theobald Jamie C
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2006-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0401906&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: International; Research; Fellowship; Program; Flight

0401906TheobaldThe 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-two-month research fellowship by Dr. Jamie C. Theobald to work with Dr. Eric J. Warrant at Lund University in Sweden and at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. This project examines the neural mechanisms through which animals maintain reliable vision in darkness. Megalopta genalis are fully nocturnal neotropical bees which visually navigate through forests 20 times dimmer than starlight. Night activity is rare among bees because they possess apposition compound eyes, a design unsuited to low light, and leaving little room to improve vision optically. Their retinas absorb signals compromised by the quantum phenomenon of photon noise. This research tests the hypothesis that Megalopta rely on neural summation to see well in the dark. Behavioral and neurobiological experiments reveal the signal processing between sensory input and muscular output, and produce mathematical models to describe it analytically. Behavior is characterized by filming bee flight around a nest to correlate light level with flight agility. Neural processing is examined by displaying visual scenes while electrically recording from retinal cells, and brain cells that detect self-motion during flight. The expectation is that Megalopta uses neural summation to fly and navigate in darkness which manifests in low optimum spatial and temporal frequencies in motion-detecting neurons, and flight that sacrifices sharp maneuvers in the dark.

国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。 该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，以及使用独特或互补的设施，专业知识和国外的实验条件。西奥博尔德将与瑞典隆德大学和巴拿马科罗拉多岛巴罗的史密森热带研究所的埃里克·J·沃兰特博士合作。该项目研究了动物在黑暗中保持可靠视力的神经机制。 Megalopta genalis是完全夜行的新热带蜜蜂，它们在比星光暗20倍的森林中视觉导航。 夜间活动在蜜蜂中是罕见的，因为它们拥有并置复眼，这种设计不适合弱光，并且几乎没有空间来改善视觉。 它们的视网膜吸收光子噪声的量子现象所损害的信号。 这项研究验证了巨眼亚目依靠神经总和在黑暗中看得很清楚的假设。 行为和神经生物学实验揭示了感觉输入和肌肉输出之间的信号处理，并产生数学模型来分析描述它。 行为的特点是拍摄蜜蜂飞行周围的巢，相关的光水平与飞行敏捷性。通过显示视觉场景，同时从视网膜细胞和在飞行过程中检测自我运动的脑细胞进行电记录，来检查神经处理。 预期是Megalopta使用神经总和在黑暗中飞行和导航，这表现在运动检测神经元的低最佳空间和时间频率，以及牺牲在黑暗中的敏捷机动的飞行。