RUI: Collaborative Research: The Origin and Diversification of Hearing in Malagasy-South Asian Cichlids

该项目包括一系列关于慈鲷科鱼类听觉功能进化的跨学科研究。慈鲷是淡水鱼类，经常作为模式生物的进化和行为研究。 马达加斯加和南亚（但不是非洲或新热带）慈鲷科动物的耳朵、头骨和气囊都有变化，这在气囊和内耳之间建立了直接的机械联系，但这并不广为人知。其他鱼类的类似结构被认为可以增强听觉能力。慈鲷科的这些结构的高度变异表明，听觉能力在这组鱼类中已经进化和多样化，并为我们提供了一个独特的强大的模型系统，以探索一种新的感觉能力的起源和随后的进化多样化的一种新的感觉。 该合作项目结合了辅助听力结构的比较形态学研究和使用神经生理学技术的听力实验研究。实地和实验室研究将记录听力的多样性，并将感知能力的差异与解剖学和生态学特征联系起来。马达加斯加南亚慈鲷提出了一个理想的情况下，以测试新的感官系统在低噪音的栖息地发展，以利用新的感官机会，而不是在高噪音的栖息地发展，以保护功能，面对增加的噪音的假设。

This project comprises a series of interdisciplinary studies of the functional evolution of hearing in cichlid fishes. Cichlids are freshwater fishes that often serve as model organisms for evolutionary and behavioral studies. Although it is not widely known, the Malagasy and South Asian (but not the African or Neotropical) cichlids exhibit modifications of the ear, skull and gas bladder, which create a direct mechanical linkage between the gas bladder and inner ear. Similar structures in other fishes are known to bestow enhanced hearing ability. A high degree of variability of these structures in cichlids suggests that hearing abilities have evolved and diversified within this group of fishes, and provides us a uniquely powerful model system to explore the origin of a new sensory ability and the subsequent evolutionary diversification of a new sense. This collaborative project combines comparative morphological studies of accessory hearing structures with experimental studies of hearing ability using neurophysiological techniques. Field and laboratory studies will document the diversity of hearing ability and correlate differences in perceptual ability with anatomical and ecological features. Malagasy-South Asian cichlids present an ideal case to test the hypothesis that new sensory systems evolve in low-noise habitats to exploit new sensory opportunities, rather than evolving in high-noise habitats to conserve function in the face of increased noise.