Thermal Landscapes and Animal Communication: Understanding the Role of Temperature in Female Spider Mate Choice

对于爬行动物、青蛙、昆虫和蜘蛛等不能调节自身温度的“冷血”动物来说，温度是它们生存的重要决定因素。这些动物面临着每日、季节和每年的温度波动，这将影响它们的生存和寻找配偶的能力。在这种情况下，雄性和雌性之间的交流尤其具有挑战性。成功的沟通需要它们之间的协调，但雄性和雌性的行为可能会随着周围温度的变化而独立变化。因为交流对大多数动物的生活至关重要，了解温度对交流的影响对于了解自然环境中的动物是必要的。伊莱亚斯博士的项目将结合实验室和实地研究，评估自然环境中的温度如何变化，调查温度如何影响“冷血”蜘蛛交流的不同方面，并通过实验测试预测的温度变化将如何影响物种的相互作用。伊莱亚斯博士的项目将热生理学和动物交流这两个现有的研究领域结合起来，研究大多数动物普遍存在的一种基本但尚未研究的现象。该项目还将用于预测环境条件变化对动物交流的潜在影响。埃利亚斯博士将利用他的研究，通过多媒体网站、与艺术家合作以及各种社交媒体，提高人们对基础研究效用的认识。此外，伊莱亚斯博士还将设计电子游戏，旨在教育公众有关动物交流和行为理论方面的知识。最近，择偶研究转向了整合环境异质性的方法。环境非均质性的一个相对被忽视的方面是热非均质性。这在交配的背景下特别有趣，因为已知温度会影响这些行为的多个方面。伊莱亚斯博士项目的目标是将热生态学研究与交配行为结合起来，以了解野外选择的模式，并预测环境变化的影响。为了描述生态环境，Elias博士将首先量化热环境，物种分布，并对热栖息地的物种进行观察。其次，Elias博士将进行实验，计算不同热环境下物种的热性能曲线。利用这些数据，伊莱亚斯博士将检验热耐受性塑造群落结构的假设，并在一系列温度下进行配偶选择研究。这项工作将是第一个研究交流动态如何随着环境变化而变化的研究。理解选择景观是行为生态学的一个关键目标，伊莱亚斯博士将能够解决温度和温度变化在形成选择中的作用。最后，伊莱亚斯博士将研究温度在物种杂交中的作用，这有可能削弱物种界限并加速灭绝。这项工作将是第一个提出和测试环境变化的潜在后果的工作之一，因此在减轻其影响的计划中非常重要。

Temperature is an important determinant of existence for "cold-blooded" animals such as reptiles, frogs, insects and spiders which cannot regulate their own temperature. These animals face daily, seasonal, and annual fluctuations in temperature which will affect their ability to survive and find mates. Communication between males and females is especially challenging in this light. Successful communication requires coordination between them, yet male and female behavior may change independently with the surrounding temperature. Because communication is critical to the lives of most animals, understanding the effects of temperature on communication is necessary to understand animals in natural environments. Using a combination of laboratory and field studies, Dr. Elias' project will evaluate how temperature in natural environments changes, investigate how temperature affects different aspects of communication in "cold blooded" spiders, and experimentally test how predicted shifts in temperature will affect species interactions. Dr. Elias' project joins two existing fields of study, thermal physiology and animal communication, to investigate a basic yet under studied phenomenon common to most animals. This project will also serve to predict potential impacts of changing environmental conditions on animal communication. Dr. Elias will use his research to raise awareness on the utility of basic research using a multimedia website, collaborations with artists, and various social media outlets. In addition, Dr. Elias will design video games aimed at educating the public in aspects related to animal communication and behavioral theory. There has recently been a shift in mate choice research towards approaches integrating environmental heterogeneity. One aspect of environmental heterogeneity that has been relatively ignored is thermal heterogeneity. This is particularly interesting in the context of mating as temperature is known to affect multiple aspects of these behaviors. The goal of Dr. Elias' project is to integrate studies of thermal ecology with mating behavior to understand patterns of selection in the field and predict impacts of environmental change. To describe the ecological context, Dr. Elias will first quantify thermal environments, species distributions, and make observations on species across thermal habitats. Secondly, Dr. Elias will perform experiments to calculate thermal performance curves for species in different thermal environments. Using these data, Dr. Elias will test the hypothesis that thermal tolerances shape community structure and perform mate choice studies across a range of temperatures. This work will be the first to examine how communication dynamics may change as a result of environmental change. Understanding selection landscapes is a key goal in behavioral ecology, and Dr. Elias will be able to address the role of temperature and temperature variation in shaping selection. Finally, Dr. Elias will investigate the role of temperature on species hybridization which has the potential to weaken species boundaries and hasten extinction. This work will be one of the first to propose and test this potential consequence of environmental change and as such be important in plans to mitigate its effects.