International Research Fellowship Program: The Quest of King Penguins: Orientation in a Crowded Environment

Nester ova(Vlasak)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9至24个月的研究。该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，并利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件。该奖项将支持安娜·内斯特罗娃(Vlasak)博士与Francesco Bonadonna博士在法国蒙彼利埃的CNRS-CEFE合作的为期24个月的研究奖学金。许多动物的存在会阻碍熟悉的路线或任何当地可用的线索，无论是视觉、听觉还是嗅觉，这使得导航变得特别困难。王企鹅(Aptenodytes Patternicus)对空间定向的研究特别感兴趣，因为它们生活在绵延数公里的巨大且极其密集的群体中。在繁殖期，每对鸟都居住在几平方米的固定区域内。配偶轮流履行父母的职责，当父母之一从觅食之旅回来时，它必须在拥挤的蜂群中找到配偶。虽然王企鹅以其对配偶和幼崽的声音识别而闻名，但基于发声的定位只能在几米内进行。目前尚不清楚企鹅是如何穿过一个大蜂群到达它们的居住地的。这项拟议工作的目标是确定让动物在拥挤的环境中成功定向的机制。三个互不相容的假设正在被评估中：视觉环境特征(地标)对归巢很重要；熟悉的路线对归巢很重要；嗅觉线索对归巢很重要。在实验中，人们正在操纵视觉地标、熟悉的路线或嗅觉线索，并测试企鹅在群体中寻找栖息地的能力。在第一次实验中，企鹅戴上磨砂护目镜，挡住了视觉地标的视线。在第二个实验中，动物被放在蜂群周围的新地点，以测试熟悉路线的重要性。在最后一个实验中，通过暂时堵住鸟儿的鼻孔来控制嗅觉线索的可用性。与控制条件(所有线索都可用)相比，在寻的过程中Trip的持续时间和/或异常轨迹的增加将表明正在测试的线索的方向的重要性。除了实验操作外，还使用群体内运动的行为观察来调查视觉地标的使用。观测在晴朗的夜晚进行，当有一些视觉地标可用时，在多云的夜晚，看不到视觉地标。比较了动物在这两种情况下的行为。这项研究的结果对于我们理解动物在拥挤环境中成功导航的一般短程机制非常重要。

0700939Nesterova (Vlasak)The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine 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-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Anna Nesterova (Vlasak) to work with Dr. Francesco Bonadonna at the CNRS - CEFE in Montpellier, France.Orientation of colonial birds within a colony poses a puzzle to the current understanding of short-range navigation. The presence of many animals can obstruct familiar routes or any locally available cues, whether they are visual, auditory, or olfactory, making navigation especially challenging. King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) are of particular interest to the studies of spatial orientation because they live in large and extremely densely populated colonies that can stretch over several kilometers. During breeding period each pair of birds reside within a fixed area of a few square meters. Mates alternate parental duties, and when one of the parents returns from a foraging trip it must find its mate in a crowded colony. While king penguins are famous for their vocal recognition of mates and chicks, the orientation based on vocalizations can take place only within several meters. It remains unknown how penguins proceed through a large colony to their residence areas. The objective of the proposed work is to identify mechanisms that allow animals to orient successfully in a crowded environment. Three non-mutually exclusive hypotheses are being evaluated: visual environmental features (landmarks) are important for homing; familiar routes are important for homing; and olfactory cues are important for homing. In the experiments, visual landmarks, familiar routes or olfactory cues are being manipulated, and the ability of penguins to find their residence area within a colony is tested. The view of visual landmarks is obstructed during the first experiment by fitting penguins with frosted goggles. In the second experiment, animals are released at novel locations around the colony in order to test the importance of familiar routes. In the last experiment, the availability of olfactory cues is controlled by temporarily plugging bird's nostrils. Increase in trips' duration and/or unusual trajectories during homing compared to the control condition (all cues are available) would suggest the importance for orientation of the cues being tested. In addition to experimental manipulations, behavioral observations of movements within colony are used to investigate the use of visual landmarks. The observations are carried out during clear nights when some visual landmarks are available and overcast nights when no visual landmarks can be seen. The behavior of animals under these two conditions is compared. The results of this study are important for our understanding of the general short-range mechanisms that allow animals to navigate successfully in crowded environments.