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交流社会信息。发送者产生和接收者接收相同的信号，这表明物种的运动和感觉行为共同进化。鸣禽用复杂的、物种特有的声音（歌声）进行交流，在行为上更喜欢自己物种的歌声。然而，雄性在发育过程中通过社会经验学习歌曲，雌性则学会识别和评价雄性的歌曲。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，鸣禽的交配是通过雄性与雄性的竞争和雌性的选择进行的，这意味着雄性向许多雌性求爱，雌性选择为下一代生育后代的雄性。因为雌性的听觉处理和对雄性歌声的感知决定了雄性的后代，雌性驱动了选择。这个项目的目的是确定物种特有的机制，使雌性对雄性歌曲的声学特征产生吸引力。神经编码和对雄性歌曲的感知将在六种具有高度不同的歌曲声学和已知的遗传关系的雌性中进行比较。结果将揭示社会沟通进化的机制。用于评估感知和神经功能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。项目负责人将把项目的方法和发现运用到她对高中生的教育工作、外联讲座和公开访谈中。交配交流、感觉加工和知觉的比较研究为理解物种形成和生物多样性提供了一个强有力的框架。鸣禽的求偶信号复杂多样，且已知亲缘关系，这为在控制祖先状态的情况下测试雄性信号与雌性感官调节之间的关系提供了机会。雌性依靠对歌声声学的感知来评估雄性的音质并选择配偶。因此，对鸣声的感知敏感性和潜在的感觉编码机制对于雌性选择为下一代提供后代的雄性至关重要。为了研究雌性的听觉感知和雄性的歌曲声学如何共同进化，雌性的歌曲偏好、对光谱-时间声音特征的感知敏感性，以及用于测量光谱-时间调谐的歌曲和合成声音的中央听觉编码将在六个物种中进行量化。行为和神经听觉敏感性的测量将与同种和其他物种的声学特征进行比较。歌曲。Estrildidae科物种的鸣声高度分化，该科物种之间的亲缘关系是已知的。研究结果揭示了雌性感官知觉与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.