DISSERTATION RESEARCH: An Experimental, Comparative Investigation to Assess the Extent and Consequences of Nestling Behavioral Adaptations in a Recently Evolved Brood Parasite

智力优势：亲子冲突（POC）理论预测，依赖的年轻人试图获取比父母最优水平更多的资源，这种冲突的程度受到父母和后代共享遗传物质数量的影响。鸟类幼虫寄生虫（那些在其他鸟类的巢穴中产卵并将所有亲代照顾留给宿主的物种）为POC理论提供了一个独特的测试，因为它们与抚养它们的父母无关，因此预测它们会表现出夸张的特征（如乞讨行为）来从成年人那里获取食物。该提案概述了几个实验，以确定棕头牛鹂雏鸟的强烈乞讨行为是这种寄生虫所特有的，还是在一种密切相关的非寄生虫物种——红翼黑鸟身上也有这种行为。这两个物种的雏鸟将在两种典型的饲养环境中饲养（即在小型宿主和中型宿主的巢中饲养）。当雏鸟5天大时，将进行三个实验来评估：(1)在相同条件下，牛郎鸟和黑鹂的乞讨行为是否存在差异；(2)乞讨行为的差异是否会影响成鸟给巢带来的食物量；(3)乞讨和食物获取的差异是否会导致两种鸟类的生长和状况差异。由于牛郎鸟最近才进化出幼虫寄生，因此这项研究也将为在牛郎鸟之前进化出幼虫寄生的物种提供见解。最后，这项工作将解决幼虫寄生虫是否表现出更夸张的乞讨相对于密切相关的物种，照顾自己的后代，POC理论的一个基本预测。更广泛的影响：除了研究POC理论和幼虫寄生虫适应进化的基本问题外，拟议的研究还将为两名本科生提供研究培训机会，并为联合pi提供重要的指导经验。堪萨斯州立大学（KSU）生物系的两名本科生将在Brett Sandercock博士的协助下通过竞争性程序被招募来从事这项工作；将特别注意征聘妇女和少数民族。学生将从KSU招募，因为我们大学（加州大学圣巴巴拉分校）的学生在6月中旬之前都在上课，这严重限制了他们参与实地研究。学生将参与该研究项目的所有阶段，并鼓励他们在牛郎鸟繁殖生态学的总体框架内进行独立研究。学生将被介绍到研究的各个方面，包括假设和预测的发展，数据库的创建和管理，统计分析，结果的解释，以及研究成果的口头和书面交流。鉴于他的目标是成为一名研究教授，这个项目将为他提供重要的指导经验，使他能够监督本科生研究的各个阶段。

Intellectual Merit: Parent-offspring conflict (POC) theory predicts that dependent young attempt to procure more resources than what is the optimal level for parents, and the extent of this conflict is influenced by the amount of genetic material parents and offspring share. Avian brood parasites (those species which lay their eggs in the nests other birds and leave all parental care to those hosts) provide a unique test of POC theory because they are unrelated to the parents that raise them and are thus predicted to exhibit exaggerated features (such as begging behaviors) for procuring food from adults. This proposal outlines several experiments to determine if intense begging by nestling Brown-headed Cowbirds is unique to this brood parasite, or if it also found in a closely related, non-parasitic species, the Red-winged Blackbird. Nestlings of both species will be raised in the two typical rearing environments of cowbirds (i.e., reared in the nest of small versus medium sized hosts). When nestlings are 5 days old, three experiments will assess: (1) if differences in begging exist between cowbirds and blackbirds under identical conditions, (2) if differences in begging behaviors influence the amount of food adults bring to the nest, and (3) if differences in begging and food acquisition lead to differences in growth and condition of the two species. Because cowbirds have evolved brood parasitism only recently, this research will also provide insights into species that evolved brood parasitism prior to cowbirds. Finally, this work will address whether brood parasites exhibit more exaggerated begging relative to closely related species that care for their own offspring, a fundamental prediction of POC theory. Broader Impacts: In addition to examining fundamental questions about POC theory and the evolution of adaptations in brood parasites, the proposed research will also provide research training opportunities for two undergraduates and important mentoring experience for the co-PI. Two undergraduates from the Division of Biology at Kansas State University (KSU) will be recruited for this work through a competitive process with the assistance of Dr. Brett Sandercock; special care will be made to recruit women and minorities. Students will be recruited from KSU because students at our university (UC-Santa Barbara) are enrolled in classes until mid-June, severely limiting their participation in field research. The students will be involved in all phases of this research project and will be encouraged to pursue independent research within the general framework of cowbird breeding ecology. Students will be introduced to all aspects of research including the development of hypotheses and predictions, creation and management of databases, statistical analyses, interpretation of results, and oral and written communication of research findings. Given his goal of becoming a research professor, this project will provide the co-PI with a significant mentoring experience by allowing him to supervise undergraduates through all stages of their research.