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

本项目包括一系列关于慈鲷听觉功能进化的跨学科研究。慈鲷是淡水鱼，经常作为进化和行为研究的模式生物。虽然并不广为人知，马达加斯加和南亚（但不是非洲或新热带）的慈鲷表现出耳朵、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。已知其他鱼类的类似结构赋予了增强的听力能力。这些结构在慈鲷中的高度变异性表明，听觉能力在这一鱼类群体中已经进化和多样化，并为我们探索新感觉能力的起源和随后的新感觉进化多样化提供了一个独特的强大模型系统。这个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能力实验研究。实地和实验室研究将记录听觉能力的多样性，并将感知能力的差异与解剖和生态特征联系起来。马达加斯加-南亚的慈鲷提供了一个理想的例子来验证新的感觉系统在低噪音栖息地进化以利用新的感觉机会，而不是在高噪音栖息地进化以在面对不断增加的噪音时保持功能。

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.