EAPSI: How Signals Can Dictate Species Interactions and Shape Communication Networks about Danger

动物表现出的一些最明显的行为与交流有关。这些通信信号很少用于私人谈话，而是涉及众多发送者，众多接收者和复杂的物种相互作用的固有社会信号。从通信网络的角度来研究动物的交流是缓慢的，大多数研究都集中在一个发送者一个接收者的交流上。在许多情况下，这是一种逻辑上的实用性，但它有一个不幸的副作用，即错过了令人兴奋的生物学的整个领域。为了解决这一差距，该项目测试了蜂鸣声信号，即鸟类内部和鸟类之间用于交流捕食者的声音信号，如何指示不同鸟类群落中的物种相互作用，从而形成关于危险的交流网络。该项目将使用不同物种的鸣叫回放来实验性地探索鸟类如何对彼此做出反应。该项目将由日本京都大学的Toshitaka Suzuki博士进行。铃木博士是行为生态学领域的一名很有前途的研究人员，他在理解信号如何影响复杂的多物种相互作用方面做出了重大贡献。研究人员将一起开始了解物种相互作用如何扩大到通信网络，以及这些通信网络如何在不同的群落中发挥作用。通信不是发生在一个发送者和一个接收者之间的私人对话中。然而，大多数关于动物交流的研究都持这种过于简单化、二元对立的观点。交流是一种固有的社会行为，需要作为一个由许多发送者、许多接受者和复杂的物种相互作用组成的网络来解决。该项目将把这种网络视角应用于蜂鸣声，这是鸟类内部和鸟类之间用来交流捕食者的声音信号。这些混合物种群集事件是由复杂的物种相互作用组成的，这些相互作用因其他物种的参与而有所不同。因此，它们是一个理想的信号系统，用于探索有关物种如何使用通信网络框架相互作用的问题。研究人员将使用回放实验来测试鸟类群落聚集如何影响蜂群呼叫通信网络中的物种相互作用。该项目将有助于理解蜂群通信网络中的不对称参与，并了解物种相互作用如何通过上下文依赖的升级来决定这种不对称。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会和日本科学促进会共同资助，隶属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所项目，支持一名美国研究生进行暑期研究。

Some of the most conspicuous behaviors performed by animals are related to communication. These communication signals are rarely reserved for private conversation, but are inherently social signals involving numerous senders, numerous receivers and complex species interactions. This communication network perspective to animal communication has been slow coming and the majority of studies focus on one-sender-one-receiver exchanges. This is a logistical practicality in many instances, but it has the unfortunate side effect of missing an entire realm of exciting biology. To address this gap, the project tests how mobbing signals, which are acoustic signals used both within and across bird species to communicate about predators, can dictate species interactions in different avian communities and therefore shape communication networks about danger. The project will use playbacks of different species' mobbing calls to experimentally probe how bird species respond to one another. The project is to be conducted with Dr. Toshitaka Suzuki at Kyoto University in Japan. Dr. Suzuki is an up-and-coming researcher in the field of behavioral ecology, who has contributed significantly to understanding how signals can shape complex multi-species interactions. Together, the researchers will begin to understand how species interactions scale-up to communication networks and finally how those communication networks function within different communities.Communication does not occur in private conversations between one sender and one receiver. Yet the majority of studies of animal communication hold this overly simplistic, dyadic viewpoint. Communication is an inherently social behavior and needs to be addressed as a network with many senders, many receivers and complex species interactions. The project will apply this network perspective to mobbing calls, which are acoustic signals used both within and across bird species to communicate about predators. These mixed-species mobbing events are comprised of complex species interactions that vary by the participation of other species. Therefore, they are an ideal signaling system to explore questions pertaining to how species interact using a communication network framework. The researchers will use playback experiments to test how the avian community assembly influences species interactions in a mobbing call communication network. The project will aid in the understanding of the asymmetrical participation in mobbing communication networks and understand how species interactions may dictate this asymmetry through context-dependent escalation. This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.