Condition-dependent signal reception: limitations and functions of carotenoids in avian color vision

条件依赖性信号接收：类胡萝卜素在鸟类色觉中的局限性和功能

• 批准号: 0923694
• 负责人: Kevin McGraw
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Arizona State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0923694&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Condition; dependent; signal; reception; limitations

Animals use a diversity of signals for communication (e.g. songs, colors), many of which are honest indicators of their worth as a mate or rival. However, the ways that animals perceive the world and receive transmitted signals may also be linked to their quality (e.g. health, condition), and such control of signal reception could impact the evolutionary pace and directions of animal communication systems. This research will involve investigations of the degree to which the color-visual sensory system of a songbird species (the house finch, Carpodacus mexicanus) is impacted by environmental factors, including diet, disease, and light exposure, and affects critical behavioral tasks like food selection and mate selection, both of which involves color preferences. Condition-dependence of color vision will be explored by tracking accumulation of the types and amounts of carotenoid pigments (e.g. the orange colorants of carrots) dedicated to the retina, where they are thought to filter light, protect the eye from photodamage, and tune color visual sensitivity. This approach provides a key molecular link between color vision and color production, which in house finches and many other animals occurs in the form of red, orange, and yellow carotenoid pigments whose supplies in feathers are also limited and condition-dependent. The biochemical, nutritional, and behavioral approaches taken in this research will enrich understandings of (a) the suite of benefits conferred by antioxidant nutrients in animals, (b) resource allocations and trade-offs in the context of animal communication, and (c) the coevolutionary mechanisms governing sexual traits and preferences in animals, tracked in a common chemical currency. The urban nature of the field research also affords the opportunity to involve local schoolteachers and children in data collection and science training, so that they may test first-hand the impacts of human encroachment on the communication system and viability of a desert-adapted organism.

动物使用各种各样的信号进行交流（例如歌曲，颜色），其中许多是它们作为配偶或竞争对手的价值的诚实指标。 然而，动物感知世界和接收传输信号的方式也可能与它们的质量（例如健康状况）有关，这种对信号接收的控制可能会影响动物通信系统的进化速度和方向。 这项研究将涉及调查鸣禽物种（家雀，Carpodacus mexicanus）的颜色视觉感官系统受环境因素影响的程度，包括饮食，疾病和光照，并影响关键的行为任务，如食物选择和择偶，两者都涉及颜色偏好。 色觉的条件依赖性将通过跟踪视网膜专用的类胡萝卜素色素（例如胡萝卜的橙子着色剂）的类型和数量的积累来探索，在视网膜中，它们被认为是过滤光，保护眼睛免受光损伤，并调节色觉灵敏度。 这种方法在色觉和颜色产生之间提供了一个关键的分子联系，在家雀和许多其他动物中，颜色产生以红色、橙子和黄色类胡萝卜素的形式出现，这些类胡萝卜素在羽毛中的供应也是有限的，并且取决于条件。本研究中采用的生物化学、营养学和行为学方法将丰富对以下方面的理解：（a）动物中抗氧化营养素所带来的一系列益处;（B）动物交流背景下的资源分配和权衡;以及（c）以共同化学货币追踪的动物性特征和偏好的共同进化机制。 实地研究的城市性质也提供了机会，让当地学校教师和儿童参与数据收集和科学培训，以便他们可以直接测试人类入侵对通信系统的影响和适应沙漠的生物体的生存能力。