Adaptations for mate choice: perceptual mechanisms in species with highly divergent communication signals

社会行为进化的一个基本问题是理解动物如何使用感官信号来传达社会信息。发送者产生和接收者感知相同的信号，这表明物种的运动和感觉行为共同进化。鸣禽使用复杂的，物种特异性的发声（歌曲）进行交流，并且在行为上更喜欢自己物种的歌曲。然而，男性学习歌曲和女性学习识别和评价男性歌曲在发展过程中，通过社会经验。因此，遗传身份和学习的相互作用建立了鸣禽交配交流的行为和神经机制。像大多数交配系统一样，鸣禽交配是通过雄性与雄性之间的竞争和雌性的选择来进行的，这意味着雄性会向许多雌性求爱，而雌性则会选择为下一代生产后代的雄性。因为雌性的听觉处理和对雄性歌声的感知决定了哪些雄性会产生后代，所以雌性会推动选择。这个项目的目的是确定物种特异性机制，产生女性吸引力的男性歌曲的声学特征。神经编码和感知的男性歌曲将比较女性的六个物种具有高度分歧的歌曲声学和已知的遗传相关性。研究结果将揭示社会交往演变的机制。为评估感知和神经功能而开发的技术将与其他实验室共享，并用于培养博士后、研究生、本科生和高中水平的年轻科学家。PI将在她与高中学生的教育工作中使用该项目的方法和结果，外展讲座和公开采访。交配沟通，感觉处理和感知的比较研究提供了一个强大的框架，了解物种形成和生物多样性。鸣禽物种复杂和不同的求偶信号（男性歌曲）和已知的相关性提供了一个机会，以测试男性信号和女性的感官调谐之间的关系，同时控制祖先的状态。雌性依靠对歌曲声学的感知来评估雄性的质量并选择配偶。因此，对歌曲声学的感知敏感性和潜在的感官编码机制对于雌性选择为下一代贡献后代的雄性至关重要。为了研究女性听觉感知和男性歌曲声学如何共同发展，女性歌曲的喜好，感知灵敏度的频谱时间的声音功能，和中央听觉编码的歌曲和合成的声音，旨在衡量频谱时间调谐将在六个物种进行量化。行为和神经听觉灵敏度的措施将比较同种和其他物种的声学特征？歌曲雌蝇科中的物种的歌声是高度分歧的，并且已知该科中的物种之间的相关性。研究结果将揭示雌性感觉感知和雄性求偶信号匹配以实现同种交流和择偶的行为和神经机制。

A fundamental issue in the evolution of social behavior is understanding how animals use sensory signals to communicate social information. Senders produce and receivers perceive the same signals, suggesting that species' motor and sensory behaviors co-evolve. Songbirds communicate using complex, species-specific vocalizations (songs) and behaviorally prefer the songs of their own species. Yet, males learn songs and females learn to recognize and evaluate male songs during development, through social experience. Thus, interactions of genetic identity and learning build the behavioral and neural mechanisms of songbird mating communication. Like most mating systems, songbird mating occurs via male-male competition and female choice, meaning that males court many females and females choose the males that produce offspring for the next generation. Because female auditory processing and perception of male song determines which males produce offspring, females drive selection. The aim of this project is to determine species-specific mechanisms that generate female attraction to the acoustic features of male songs. Neural coding and perception of male songs will be compared in females of six species with highly divergent song acoustics and known genetic relatedness. Results will reveal mechanisms whereby social communication evolves. The techniques developed to assess perception and neural function will be shared with other laboratories and used to train young scientists at the postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate and high school levels. The PI will use the approaches and findings of the project in her education work with high school students, outreach lectures and public interviews. Comparative studies of mating communication, sensory processing and perception provide a powerful framework for understanding speciation and biodiversity. Songbird species with complex and divergent courtship signals (male songs) and known relatedness present an opportunity to test relationships between male signals and female sensory tuning while controlling for ancestral state. Females rely on perception of song acoustics to assess male quality and choose mates. Thus, perceptual sensitivity to song acoustics and the underlying sensory coding mechanisms are critical to female selection of the males that contribute offspring to the next generation. To examine how female auditory perception and male song acoustics co-evolve, female song preferences, perceptual sensitivities to spectro-temporal sound features, and central auditory coding of songs and synthetic sounds designed to measure spectro-temporal tuning will be quantified in six species. Measures of behavioral and neural auditory sensitivity will be compared to the acoustic features of conspecific and other species? songs. Songs of species in the family Estrildidae are highly divergent and relatedness across species in this family is known. Results will reveal behavioral and neural mechanisms for the matching of female sensory perception and male courtship signals to achieve conspecific communication and mate choice.