Intraspecific habitat variation and social systems: Integrating behavioral genomics and neuroscience in the Taiwan field vole

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This award supports PIs Loren Hayes and Larry Young to undertake a ten-day planning visit to National Taiwan University in Taipei in March 2010. The planning visit will bring together scientists interested in the behavioral ecology of social rodents with scientists interested in neurobiology and gene expression to discuss a proposed evolutionary-mechanistic model for sociality and to develop a long-term collaboration to test hypotheses linking behavioral ecology, genomics and neuroanatomy and to generate international research opportunities for U.S. graduate students and junior researchers. Hayes, a behavioral ecologist, and Young, a neuroscientist, will collaborate with behavioral scientist Kirk Lin of the Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Alex Hon-Tsen Yu of the Institute of Zoology, both at National Taiwan University. The collaborators will each be joined by a graduate student or postdoc.The proposed study species (Microtus kikuchii) is thought to be socially monogamous. Understanding the sociality and mating systems of this species could lead to comparisons with other socially monogamous mammals (e.g. Microtus ochrogaster), increasing understanding of convergent evolution. The PIs will assess the long-term potential for collaboration, including assessing potential field sites, evaluating laboratory capabilities in Taiwan, developing preliminary projects for affiliated graduate students/postdocs to generate data for long-term study, and discussing strategies for collaborative and independent grant-writing to support the long-term goals of the project.