DISSERTATION RESEARCH: What you see is what you get: behavioral implications of retinal carotenoid accumulation

动物精致多样的视觉展示启发了生物学家，也挑战了我们几个世纪以来对进化的理解。许多五颜六色的显示器制造成本很高，使它们成为配偶和竞争对手可靠的个人质量信号。在这个信号系统中，对颜色的感知是必不可少的；然而，人们对视觉系统的成本和性能的限制知之甚少。黄色、橙色和红色的类胡萝卜素是许多鸟类五颜六色的基础，包括家雀(Carpodacus Micianus)，类胡萝卜素的着色受到个人健康和饮食中这些色素的影响。有趣的是，类胡萝卜素也会在鸟类的眼睛中积累，它们会过滤光线，保护眼睛，调节色觉。因此，类胡萝卜素色素可能在产生和感知五颜六色的视觉显示之间提供一种独特的生化联系。研究人员将使用饮食操作、生化分析和行为实验来研究类胡萝卜素在眼睛中的积累如何影响家雀基于颜色的觅食和配偶选择。他们将通过给鸟喂食高水平和低水平的类胡萝卜素色素来改变眼睛中的类胡萝卜素水平，然后在一系列行为实验中比较对彩色羽毛的觅食和配偶选择。这些研究为信号和感觉系统进化的研究提供了新的方向。结果将在科学和非专业人士(如杂志和公开演讲)论坛上公布，以促进更广泛受众的科学学习。这些研究将为学院和社区内的本科生、少数民族和青年学者提供参与实验室分析和行为实验的机会。

The elaborate and diverse visual displays of animals have inspired biologists and challenged our understanding of evolution for centuries. Many colorful displays are costly to produce, making them reliable signals of an individual's quality to mates and rivals. In this signaling system, the perception of color is essential; however, relatively little is known about the costs of and constraints on the performance of the visual system. Yellow, orange, and red carotenoid pigments are the basis of the colorful displays of many bird species, including the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus), and carotenoid coloration is affected by an individual's health and dietary access to these pigments. Interestingly, carotenoids also accumulate in the avian eye where they filter light, protect the eye, and tune color vision. Therefore, carotenoid pigments may provide a unique biochemical link between the production and perception of colorful visual displays.The investigators will use dietary manipulations, biochemical analyses, and behavioral experiments to investigate how carotenoid accumulation in the eye affects color-based foraging and mate selection of house finches. They will change carotenoid levels in the eye by feeding the birds diets with high and low levels of carotenoid pigments and then compare the foraging and mate choice for colorful plumage in a series of behavioral experiments.These studies provide a new direction for the study of signal and sensory system evolution. Results will be published in scientific and layperson (e.g. magazines and public presentations) forums to foster scientific learning among broader audiences. These studies will provide opportunities for undergraduate, minority, and youth scholars within the institution and community to participate in laboratory analyses and behavioral experiments.