DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Connecting Cognition, Signaling, and Female Choice in Wild Birds

论文研究：野生鸟类的认知、信号传导和雌性选择的联系

• 批准号: 1600845
• 负责人: Vladimir Pravosudov
• 金额: $ 1.56万
• 依托单位: Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-04-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1600845&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Connecting; Cognition; Signaling

It has long been proposed that female animals use various external information containing signals to assess male quality when choosing mates. However, the connection between a male's level of intelligence and external traits that females can assess has been difficult to measure. Here the researchers will assess spatial memory ability, an intelligence trait thought to increase survival in wild food-storing birds, and two overt male signals, feather coloration and song production, to address the question of whether or not female mating choice is associated with these traits. The researchers will conduct the experiments with free-living birds using arrays of programmable 'smart' bird feeders that can track which individuals are using these feeders to test spatial learning ability. The researchers will then test whether individual variation in learning is associated with variation in communication signals and with mate choice. Findings from this work can be applied to a wide variety of species, including humans, that must make important decisions when using information that isn't always easily assessed or tangible. All of the results and findings will be widely available to a variety of audiences through publication in peer-reviewed journals and participation in professional conferences. Additionally, this work will support the research experience of undergraduate students and the equipment used in this project will also be used in public outreach activities in the community, including creating a museum display at the University of Nevada's Museum of Natural History that illustrates the differences in human and non-human.Signals are universally used across taxa to convey a diverse range of information, including social status, foraging locations, and predator presence. Several hypotheses have been proposed regarding how sexual signals of quality, in particular, have evolved to be honest as these signals are only useful insofar as they reflect some fitness associated trait(s) of the sender. Cognitive ability is one such fitness-related trait, yet direct evidence linking cognitive ability, signaling, and associated fitness consequences of female mating choices have historically been difficult to assess. Using wild birds fitted with passive integrated transponder leg bands and radio-frequency identification technology, the researchers will directly test whether (a) individual variation in a cognitive ability is associated with variation in two modes of signaling perceivable by females and (b) whether variation in cognitive ability and these two signals reflect female mating choices via production of extra-pair offspring. By doing so, the researchers will connect a cognitive trait thought to increase survival, with song production and plumage reflectance, to female mating choices in wild food-caching birds. These birds inhabit differentially harsh environments creating differential selection pressures on spatial memory ability used to retrieve cached food. Using this system the researchers will be able to directly test the assumption that signals reflect individual quality, an assumption that has been somewhat intangible in the past.

长期以来，人们一直认为雌性动物在选择配偶时使用各种包含信号的外部信息来评估雄性的质量。然而，男性的智力水平和女性可以评估的外部特征之间的联系很难衡量。在这里，研究人员将评估空间记忆能力，一种被认为可以提高野生食物储存鸟类存活率的智力特征，以及两种明显的雄性信号，羽毛颜色和鸣叫，以解决雌性交配选择是否与这些特征有关的问题。研究人员将对自由生活的鸟类进行实验，使用可编程的“智能”喂鸟器阵列，可以跟踪哪些个体使用这些喂鸟器来测试空间学习能力。然后，研究人员将测试学习能力的个体差异是否与交流信号的差异和配偶选择的差异有关。这项工作的发现可以应用于各种各样的物种，包括人类，当使用不容易评估或有形的信息时，必须做出重要的决定。所有的结果和发现将通过在同行评审的期刊上发表和参加专业会议而广泛地提供给各种受众。此外，这项工作将支持本科生的研究经验，项目中使用的设备也将用于社区的公共宣传活动，包括在内华达大学自然历史博物馆创建一个博物馆，展示人类和非人类的差异。信号在不同的分类群中被普遍用于传递各种各样的信息，包括社会地位、觅食地点和捕食者的存在。人们提出了几个假设，特别是关于性的质量信号是如何进化到诚实的，因为这些信号只有在它们反映了发送者的一些适应性相关特征时才有用。认知能力就是这样一种与健康相关的特征，然而，历史上很难评估将认知能力、信号和女性交配选择相关的健康后果联系起来的直接证据。研究人员使用配备了被动集成转发器腿带和射频识别技术的野生鸟类，将直接测试(a)个体认知能力的变化是否与雌性可感知的两种信号模式的变化有关；(b)认知能力和这两种信号的变化是否反映了雌性通过产生额外的后代来交配的选择。通过这样做，研究人员将把一种被认为可以提高存活率的认知特征（鸣叫和羽毛反射）与野生食物储存鸟类的雌性交配选择联系起来。这些鸟类生活在不同的恶劣环境中，对空间记忆能力产生了不同的选择压力，这些空间记忆能力用于检索缓存的食物。使用这个系统，研究人员将能够直接测试信号反映个人素质的假设，这一假设在过去有些难以捉摸。