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鱼听力功能进化的跨学科研究。慈鱼是一种淡水鱼，经常作为进化和行为研究的模式生物。虽然这并不广为人知，但马达加斯加和南亚(但不是非洲或新热带)慈鱼表现出耳朵、头骨和气囊的变化，这在气囊和内耳之间产生了直接的机械联系。众所周知，其他鱼类的类似结构可以增强听力。这些结构的高度变异性表明，在这类鱼类中，听力已经进化和多样化，并为我们提供了一个独特的强大的模型系统来探索新感觉能力的起源和随后新感觉的进化多样化。这个合作项目将副听力结构的比较形态研究与使用神经生理学技术的听力实验研究结合在一起。实地和实验室研究将证明听力的多样性，并将感知能力的差异与解剖和生态特征相关联。马达加斯加-南亚慈鱼是检验以下假设的理想案例：新的感觉系统在低噪音生境中进化，以利用新的感觉机会，而不是在高噪音生境中进化，以在面对更多噪音的情况下保持功能。

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.