Social networks in wild resident social species in different environments: causes, function and consequences

许多动物物种生活在社会群体中，但生物学家并不完全理解为什么社会行为会进化，社会结构是如何决定的，以及社会结构是如何影响生存和繁殖的。为了研究自然界的社会行为，研究人员将使用被充分研究过的储存食物的鸟类——山雀的微芯片个体，以及无线射频识别（RFID）——一种可以为每只鸟提供不同资源的喂食器。研究人员将测试山区高海拔和低海拔地区冬季环境条件的差异是否与社会组织和信息共享的差异有关；寻找储存食物的学习和记忆的差异是否与社会行为的差异有关；个体向其他鸟类提供信息的可靠性是否会影响它们的社会地位和社会组织；以及社会群体的变化如何影响社会群体的结构和功能。该项目将为一名博士后研究员和众多研究生和本科生提供培训，并与UNR生物学本科生研究项目和学生文化多样性中心合作，从代表性不足的群体中招募学生。调查人员还将在内华达大学里诺自然历史博物馆和当地实地研究站为公众和当地学校的学生制作科学展览。几十年来，社会性的进化一直是生物学中一个重要的研究课题。近年来，随着社会网络分析的迅速发展，关于社会群体结构的原因和功能的问题重新兴起。收集社会网络数据的主要挑战在于可靠地检测社会联系，特别是在高度流动、自由生活的动物中。无线射频识别（RFID）技术的使用使个人运动和接触的自动检测成为可能，并为调查社会行为提供了一个相当前所未有的途径，特别是通过操纵个人对资源的访问，从而能够实验性地重新构建个人与谁互动。这个项目将使用比较和实验的方法来研究在不同的冬季气候严重程度的环境中，一个高度社会化的、居住的、食物储存的物种的社会网络的结构、功能和适应性后果，这个物种使用空间认知来寻找大量的食物储存来过冬，山雀。利用内华达山脉的一个完善的野外系统和基于射频识别的馈线，该项目将测试(a)社会网络结构和功能是否存在与环境有关的差异；(b)空间认知能力的差异与网络位置和功能的差异有关；(c)信息的可靠性和粮食资源的分配影响社会网络结构和个人网络地位；(d)实验表明，与食物相关的鸟类重新分配到不同的社会群体是暂时稳定的，并具有适应性后果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many animal species live in social groups, yet biologists don't fully understand why social behavior has evolved, how social structure is determined and how social structure functions to affect survival and reproduction. To study social behavior in nature, the investigators will use microchipped individuals of the well-studied food-storing bird species, the mountain chickadee, and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-technology in feeders that can provide different resources to each individual bird. The researchers will test whether differences in winter environmental conditions at higher and lower elevations in the mountains are associated with differences in social organization and information sharing; whether variation in learning and memory used in finding stored food is associated with differences in social behavior; whether reliability of information that individual birds provide to other birds affects their social status and social organization; and how changes in social groups to affect social group structure and function. This project will provide training to a postdoctoral researcher and numerous graduate and undergraduate students, collaborating with the UNR Biology Undergraduate Research Program and the Center for Student Cultural Diversity to recruit students from under-represented groups. The investigators will also create scientific displays for the members of the public and students from local schools at the University of Nevada Reno Museum of Natural History and at the local field research station. The evolution of sociality has been a topic of major interest in biology for decades. Questions about the causes and functions of social group structure have recently received a resurgence with the rapid development of social network analyses. Major challenges in collecting social network data lie in the reliable detection of social contacts, especially in highly mobile, free-living animals. The use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has enabled automated detection of individual movements and contacts and allows a rather unprecedented avenue for investigating social behavior, notably by manipulating individual access to resources and hence the ability to experimentally re-structure who individuals interact with. This project will use comparative and experimental approaches to investigate structure, function and fitness consequences of social networks in environments that differ in winter climate severity in a highly social, resident, food-caching species that uses spatial cognition to find numerous food caches for overwinter survival, the mountain chickadee. Using a well-established field system in the Sierra Nevada mountains and RFID-based feeders this project will test whether (a) there are environment-related differences in social network structure and function; (b) variation in spatial cognitive ability is associated with differences in network position and function; (c) reliability of information and distribution of food resources affect social network structure and individual network positions; and (d) experimental, food-related reassignment of birds into different social groups are temporally stable and have fitness consequences.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.