Integrative biology of social cognition -- avpr1a, memory and alternative male tactics

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In the proposed research, the researchers use a well-studied model, the monogamous prairie vole, to understand the links between DNA variation, brain variation, social cognition and natural selection. Although prairie voles are monogamous, there is substantial variation in how widely males roam and in how faithful they are to a partner. Social behavior is widely known to influenced by the hormone vasopressin through actions on its receptor, V1aR; male mate fidelity is linked to V1aR abundance in specific parts of the brain known as the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) which is also critical in spatial memory. The proposal asks how individual differences in genotype, neuronal gene expression and social cognition interact with evolutionary forces to explain behavioral diversity. Specifically, the investigators ask whether individual differences in genotype, V1aR in the retropsplenial cortex and social cognition are maintained by density-dependent selection. These experiments will determine whether natural environments promote diversity in the social brain. The proposed work deepens and extends a research narrative on prairie vole monogamy that is well covered in textbooks for introductory biology, animal behavior and behavioral neuroendocrinology courses. The parallel examination of genetics, neurobiology, memory and fitness would provide a particularly complete picture of how evolutionary and mechanistic forces interact to shape animal behavior in the wild. The researchers will augment ongoing outreach activities with the development of a blog focused on the integrative study of animal behavior, its mechanisms and their evolution. The blog will enhance training by providing an opportunity for graduate students to hone communication skills, and by generating content accessible to a broad audience. It will deepen participation of under-represented groups by actively recruiting readers and writers through existing networks of minority scientists; it will facilitate the dissemination research findings through social media; and it will provide an infrastructure for the informal exchange of ideas among scientists and society.