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

0502239埃利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。埃利亚斯与安德鲁·C博士合作。多伦多大学的Mason博士和加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省大学的韦恩P. Maddison博士认为，自然环境的复杂性带来了潜在刺激的巨大多样性。来自多个感官输入的信息必须整合到神经系统中，以便生物体在其环境中导航。感觉整合的神经机制已经进化到反映竞争刺激的适应意义，因此解释感觉整合需要对行为反应功能的彻底理解。PI和他的宿主将使用行为，系统发育和信息理论技术研究Habronattus属跳蛛的多模式通信。多模态交流（使用两种或多种感觉模态的交流）代表了一种环境，在这种环境中，多感觉整合可以与特定的行为功能明确联系起来，因此提供了一个理想的系统来研究感觉整合。研究多模态通信的演变将提供对驱动多输入整合的过程的见解，这反过来又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，这些不同种类的Habronattus在不同程度上使用多模态信号来表达雄性求爱。配偶选择实验沿着与男性信号的定量测量，使他们能够评估现有的假设的功能多模态信号，因此的意义的具体机制的感觉整合。使用系统发育技术和计算模型，他们正在实证测试假设的进化更大的信号复杂性，以及测试假设，更大的信号复杂性导致更迅速的物种多样化。这个项目可以弥合沟通系统的复杂性，了解系统的性别选择的作用和了解可能增加系统复杂性的进化压力之间的差距。

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.