Social Influences on Reproductive Decisions- revised

社会对生殖决定的影响-修订版

• 批准号: 1021801
• 负责人: David White
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-08-15 至 2012-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1021801&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Social; Influences; Reproductive; Decisions; revised

The social environment can influence the individual in many different ways. Social factors can affect learning, development and even health. The focus of this proposal is to examine how different types of social environments can impact the health of parents and offspring. The model system under study is the brown-headed cowbird. Cowbirds are an excellent model for investigating the influence of social environments on health because, being obligate brood parasites, they engage in no parental care, thus the viability of their young is not confounded by parental abilities. This project is designed to take an integrative approach in examining the function and cause of social influences on mating, reproductive success, and health of parents and offspring. It combines observational studies of large groups of birds with proximate measures of circulating hormone actions. Captive flocks of cowbirds will be observed and experimentally manipulated (by changing the social composition of the flocks, and with hormone implants). This procedure provides (1) control over the social experiences the birds gain, (2) measures of reproductive success, and (3), measures of the growth and vigor of the young. This work has the promise to advance knowledge on where and when selection may act on flexible behavior patterns in social organisms and to reveal the strength of cultural processes influencing health and viability. In addition, the lab has a strong educational mission; it is attractive to broad range of students including underrepresented groups. Finally, cowbirds are a species of concern due to their ability to reproduce at high rates. This work has the potential to provide new knowledge about the factors that stimulate female reproduction that could be used for management and conservation programs.

社会环境可以通过许多不同的方式影响个人。社会因素会影响学习、发展甚至健康。这项建议的重点是研究不同类型的社会环境如何影响父母和后代的健康。研究中的模型系统是褐头燕八哥。燕八哥是研究社会环境对健康影响的一个很好的模型，因为作为专性育雏寄生虫，它们不需要父母的照顾，因此它们的后代的生存能力不会受到父母能力的影响。 本项目旨在采取综合方法，研究社会影响对父母和后代的交配、生殖成功和健康的作用和原因。它结合了对大群鸟类的观察研究和对循环激素作用的近似测量。将对圈养的燕八哥群进行观察和实验操作（通过改变鸟群的社会组成，并植入激素）。这一程序提供了（1）对鸟类获得的社会经验的控制，（2）繁殖成功的措施，（3）年轻人的生长和活力的措施。这项工作有希望推进知识在哪里和何时选择可能会对灵活的行为模式在社会有机体，并揭示影响健康和生存能力的文化过程的力量。此外，该实验室有一个强大的教育使命;它是有吸引力的广泛的学生，包括代表性不足的群体。最后，燕八哥是一个令人关注的物种，因为它们的繁殖能力很高。这项工作有可能提供新的知识，刺激女性生殖的因素，可用于管理和保护计划。