International Research Fellowship Program: Sensory Integration and the Evolution of Multimodal Communication in Jumping Spiders

[502239]伊莱亚斯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Damian O. Elias博士与多伦多大学的Andrew C. Mason博士和加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚大学的Wayne P. Maddison博士进行为期22个月的研究。自然环境的复杂性呈现出潜在刺激的压倒性多样性。来自多种感官输入的信息必须在神经系统内整合，以便生物体在其环境中导航。感觉统合的神经机制已经进化到反映竞争刺激的适应性意义，因此解释感觉统合需要对行为反应功能的透彻理解。PI和他的东道主将利用行为学、系统发育学和信息论技术研究Habronattus属跳蛛的多模式交流。多模式交流（使用两种或多种感觉模式的交流）代表了多感觉整合可以与特定行为功能明确联系的背景，因此为研究感觉整合提供了理想的系统。研究多模态通信的进化将提供对驱动多输入整合的过程的见解，这反过来将指导神经功能的分析，以揭示感觉整合和通信的基本机制。他们正在研究不同种类的Habronattus的交流，这些Habronattus在雄性求爱时不同程度地使用多模态信号。配偶选择实验以及雄性信号的定量测量使他们能够评估关于多模态信号功能的现有假设，从而评估感觉整合特定机制的重要性。利用系统发育技术和计算模型，他们从经验上验证了关于更大信号复杂性进化的假设，并验证了更大的信号复杂性导致更快速的物种多样化的假设。这个项目可以在描述通信系统的复杂性、理解系统在性选择中的作用和理解可能增加系统复杂性的进化压力之间建立桥梁。

0502239EliasThe 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. Damian O. Elias to work with Dr. Andrew C. Mason at the University of Toronto and with Dr. Wayne P. Maddison at the University of British Columbia, in Canada.The complexity of natural environments presents an overwhelming diversity of potential stimuli. Information from multiple sensory inputs must be integrated within the nervous system in order for an organism to navigate its environment. Neural mechanisms of sensory integration have evolved to reflect the adaptive significance of competing stimuli, and explaining sensory integration therefore requires a thorough understanding of the function of behavioral responses. The PI and his hosts will study multimodal communication in jumping spiders of the genus Habronattus using behavioral, phylogenetic and information theoretic techniques. Multimodal communication (communication using two or more sensory modalities) represents a context in which multi-sensory integration can be clearly linked with a specific behavioral function, and therefore provides an ideal system to study sensory integration. Studying the evolution of multimodal communication will provide insights into the processes that drive the integration of multiple inputs which will, in turn, guide the analysis of neural function to uncover fundamental mechanisms underlying sensory integration and communication. They are studying communication in different species of Habronattus that use multimodal signaling to varying degrees in male courtship displays. Mate choice experiments along with quantitative measurements of male signals allow them to evaluate existing hypotheses on the function multimodal signals and therefore the significance of specific mechanisms of sensory integration. Using phylogenetic techniques and computational models they are empirically testing hypotheses on the evolution of greater signal complexity as well as testing the hypothesis that greater signal complexity leads to more rapid species diversification. This project can bridge the gap between describing the complexity of a communication system, understanding the system's role in sexual selection and understanding the evolutionary pressures that may increase system complexity.