Collaborative Research: RUI: Social modulation of migratory timing and endocrine mechanisms of migration in two flexible migrants

动物迁徙是数千个物种生命周期的一个重要阶段，对许多生态系统的动态至关重要，对人类健康有影响，而且是一个特别容易受到干扰的过程。因此，从基础和应用的角度来看，对移徙控制的研究都是至关重要的。了解动物如何决定何时移动是特别重要的，因为这可以决定它们是否在适当的时间到达目的地进行繁殖或越冬。许多动物在群体中移动，社会互动和社会线索预计在动物准备和迁移期间做出的决定中很重要。然而，很少有人知道的作用，社会线索在确定动物何时开始开始或结束迁移或有关的生理机制，社会信号可能会影响迁移时间。这一合作项目将利用两种迁徙鸣禽来解决这两个知识缺口，这两种鸣禽具有灵活的迁徙时间表，对社会信息高度敏感。这项工作的结果将推进我们的理解，社会线索如何影响迁移时间和迁移的激素调节。该项目还将为本科生和研究生提供培训和指导。与该项目有关的外联活动将使小学生和一般公众参与移徙生物学。大学和小学的培训和推广活动将针对传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的群体中的个人。该合作项目的第一个目标是评估社会线索（特别是同种的迁移状态）对迁移时间的影响。实验将进行测试的假设，鸟类使用同种线索微调开始和结束迁移的时间。社会线索没有得到很好的研究，在迁移时间的背景下，该项目的包括迁移的终止阶段将是重要的，在推进这一特别是研究不足的阶段的迁移的理解。该项目的第二个目标是促进对迁移过渡的内分泌和神经内分泌调节的理解，进一步的目标是调查社会线索如何影响内分泌和神经内分泌参数，以潜在地改变迁移时间。因此，研究人员将量化循环类固醇激素的变化及其受体在大脑和外周组织中的可用性，跨越进入和离开迁移状态的过渡。这种了解迁移背景下内分泌机制的全身方法是独一无二的。研究人员还将通过实验操纵社会线索来评估这些线索可能影响迁移时间的内分泌和神经内分泌机制。因此，该项目的结果将极大地拓宽人们对生活史转变中社会线索和内分泌机制可塑性的作用的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响进行评估而被认为值得支持。审查标准。

Animal migration is a centrally important life cycle stage for thousands of species, it is critical to the dynamics of many ecosystems, has impacts on human health, and is a process that is particularly prone to disturbance. Thus, research on the control of migration is critical from both basic and applied perspectives. Understanding how animals decide when to move is of particular importance given that this can dictate whether or not they arrive at their destination at an appropriate time for reproduction or overwintering. Many animals move in groups and social interactions and social cues are expected to be important in the decisions that animals make in preparation for and during migration. Yet, there is little known about the role of social cues in determining when animals begin or end migration or about the physiological mechanisms by which social signals might act to influence migratory timing. This collaborative project will address these two knowledge gaps using two species of migratory songbirds that have flexible migratory schedules and that are highly sensitive to social information. Results of this work will advance our understanding of how social cues influence both migratory timing and the hormonal regulation of migration. This project will also provide training and mentoring for undergraduate and graduate students. Outreach activities linked to the project will engage elementary school students and the general public in migratory biology. Training and outreach activities at the university level and in elementary schools will target individuals from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.The first goal of this collaborative project is to evaluate the influence of social cues (specifically, the migratory state of conspecifics) on the timing of migration. Experiments will be carried out to test the hypotheses that birds use cues from conspecifics to fine-tune timing of initiation and termination of migration. Social cues have not been well studied in the context of migratory timing and the project's inclusion of the termination phase of migration will be important in advancing the understanding of this particularly understudied phase of migration. The second goal of the project is to advance understanding of the endocrine and neuroendocrine regulation of migratory transitions, with the further objective of investigating how social cues influence endocrine and neuroendocrine parameters to potentially alter migratory timing. Thus, investigators will quantify changes in circulating steroid hormones and the availability of their receptors in the brain and peripheral tissues across transitions into and out of a migratory state. This type of whole-body approach to understanding endocrine mechanisms in the context of migration is unique. The investigators will also experimentally manipulate social cues to evaluate endocrine and neuroendocrine mechanisms by which these cues might influence migratory timing. The results of this project will thus greatly broaden understanding of the roles of social cues and plasticity of endocrine mechanisms in life history transitions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.