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

长期以来，人们一直认为雌性动物在选择配偶时会使用各种包含信号的外部信息来评估雄性质量。 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一直很难衡量。在这里，研究人员将评估空间记忆能力，这是一种被认为可以提高野生食物储存鸟类生存率的智力特征，以及两种明显的雄性信号，羽毛颜色和歌曲产生，以解决雌性交配选择是否与这些特征相关的问题。研究人员将使用可编程的“智能”鸟类喂食器阵列对自由生活的鸟类进行实验，这些喂食器可以跟踪哪些个体正在使用这些喂食器来测试空间学习能力。然后，研究人员将测试学习中的个体差异是否与交流信号的变化和配偶选择有关。这项工作的发现可以应用于包括人类在内的各种物种，这些物种在使用并不总是容易评估或有形的信息时必须做出重要决定。 所有的结果和调查结果将通过在同行评审的期刊上发表和参加专业会议广泛提供给各种受众。此外，这项工作将支持本科生的研究经验，该项目中使用的设备也将用于社区的公共宣传活动，包括在内华达州大学自然历史博物馆创建一个博物馆展览，展示人类和非人类的差异。觅食地点和捕食者的存在已经提出了几个假设，特别是关于性质量信号如何进化到诚实的程度，因为这些信号只有在反映发送者的一些健康相关特征时才有用。认知能力就是这样一个与健康相关的特征，但从历史上看，将认知能力、信号传递和女性交配选择的相关健康后果联系起来的直接证据一直难以评估。使用装有被动集成转发器腿带和射频识别技术的野生鸟类，研究人员将直接测试（a）认知能力的个体差异是否与雌性可感知的两种信号模式的变化有关，以及（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配对后代的交配选择。通过这样做，研究人员将把一种被认为能提高生存率的认知特征，即鸣唱和羽毛反射率，与野生食物储藏鸟类的雌性交配选择联系起来。这些鸟类栖息在不同的恶劣环境中，对用于检索缓存食物的空间记忆能力产生不同的选择压力。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，这一假设在过去是无形的。

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.