International Research Fellowship Program: Neuroendocrine Adaptations to Stress in Passerines of the Tibetan Plateau

[0701325]戴维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9到24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。该奖项将支持詹森·戴维斯博士与中国科学院北京动物研究所的雷福民博士以及加州大学戴维斯分校的约翰·温菲尔德博士共同开展为期18个月的研究。在气候极端的环境中，动物为了生存和繁殖，必须定期改变大脑功能和行为。这种适应可能发生的最重要的一个方面是应激神经生理学。先前的研究发现，在北极和高山栖息地繁殖的鸟类中，神经内分泌与应激反应的相关性表明，这些物种经常通过改变几个神经内分泌“弹性点”来动态调节对压力的反应，使它们能够自适应地最小化或最大化反应，以应对恶劣的气候条件，同时成功地繁殖和养育后代。尽管人们对这种极端气候繁殖者的神经生理学进行了大量的探索，但对在地球上最不适宜居住、最特殊的环境之一——青藏高原上繁殖和过冬的鸟类的神经生理学知之甚少。本项目将探索和研究青藏高原北部雀形目鸟类应激敏感性的行为和神经内分泌相关因素。这个地方为研究鸣禽的压力适应提供了一个独特的机会，部分原因是它的隔离和恶劣的气候条件，以及它对全球气候变化的敏感性，但也因为这个地区的许多原生鸟类在冬季不会向南迁徙。关于这些物种如何在冬季生存，以及它们与迁徙和低海拔入侵物种有何不同，特别是在应激神经生理学方面，我们所知甚少。在这个项目的过程中，我们将在冬季、初夏和夏末从高原上的几个种群和地点采集一些西藏特有物种的组织和血浆样本，用于分析皮质酮敏感性和糖皮质激素受体密度，以及其他形态学、行为学和生理学指标。此外，一些捕获的鸟类将被转移到高原上的中国科技部鸟舍设施，使我们能够通过实验调节温度和气候条件，以及人工调节皮质酮水平（通过非侵入性的局部皮质酮溶液管理），并密切监测这种调节导致的任何行为或神经内分泌变化。本研究采用综合方法探索环境、生态、生理和行为的相互作用，特别强调具有独特价值的地理区域。

0701325DavisThe 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 an eighteen-month research fellowship by Dr. Jason Davis to work with Dr. Lei Fu-Min, Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Zoology in Beijing, China and with Dr. John Wingfield, University of California, Davis. In climatically extreme environments, animals must regularly alter brain function and behavior in order to survive and reproduce. One of the most important dimensions in which such adaptation can occur is stress neurophysiology. Previous work exploring neuroendocrine correlates of stress responsivity in birds breeding in Arctic and alpine habitats has revealed that such species often dynamically modulate responses to stress through alteration of several neuroendocrine "flex points," allowing them to adaptively minimize or maximize responses to cope with harsh climatic conditions, while at the same time successfully breeding and rearing young. Though there has been substantial exploration of the neurophysiology of such extreme climate breeders, much less is known about the neurophysiology of birds that both breed and winter in one of the planet's most inhospitable and extraordinary environments - the Tibetan Plateau. This project will explore and address behavioral and neuroendocrine correlates of stress sensitivity in passerine birds inhabiting the northern areas of the Tibetan Plateau. This location provides a unique opportunity to study stress adaptation in songbirds, in part because of its isolation and harsh climatic conditions and also its sensitivity to global climate change, but also because many species of birds native to this area do not migrate south during the winter months. Very little is known as to how these species survive in the winter, and how they differ from migratory and lower-altitude invasive species, particularly in regards to stress neurophysiology. In the course of this project, we will take tissue and plasma samples from a number of endemic Tibetan species from several populations and locations on the plateau, during the winter, early summer, and late summer for analysis in relation to corticosterone sensitivity and glucocorticoid receptor density, as well as additional morphological, behavioral and physiological measures. In addition, a number of captured birds will be transferred to a Chinese Ministry of Science aviary facility on the plateau, allowing us to experimentally modulate temperature and climatic conditions as well as to artificially modulate corticosterone levels (via non-invasive administration of a topical corticosterone solution), and closely monitor any behavioral or neuroendocrine changes that result from such modulations. This research takes an integrative approach to exploring the interactions of environment, ecology, physiology and behavior, with a special emphasis on a geographic area of unique value.