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

几个世纪以来，动物精致多样的视觉展示激发了生物学家的灵感，并挑战了我们对进化的理解。许多彩色图案的制作成本很高，这使它们成为向配偶和竞争对手展示个体质量的可靠信号。在这个信号系统中，对颜色的感知是必不可少的；然而，人们对视觉系统性能的成本和限制知之甚少。黄色、橙色和红色的类胡萝卜素是许多鸟类色彩斑斓的基础，包括家雀（Carpodacus mexicanus），类胡萝卜素的颜色受到个体健康状况和饮食中这些色素的影响。有趣的是，类胡萝卜素也在鸟类的眼睛中积累，在那里它们过滤光线，保护眼睛，调节颜色视觉。因此，类胡萝卜素可能在彩色视觉显示的产生和感知之间提供了独特的生化联系。研究人员将使用饮食控制、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。他们将通过给这些鸟喂食高水平和低水平的类胡萝卜素来改变它们眼睛中的类胡萝卜素水平，然后在一系列行为实验中比较它们觅食和择偶对彩色羽毛的选择。这些研究为信号和感觉系统进化的研究提供了新的方向。研究结果将在科学和非专业人士（如杂志和公开演讲）论坛上发表，以促进更广泛受众的科学学习。这些研究将为机构和社区内的本科生、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.