Collaborative Research: Referential alarm calling as a window into the mechanisms and evolution of a complex cognitive phenotype

合作研究：参考警报呼叫作为了解复杂认知表型的机制和演化的窗口

基本信息

批准号：
1953226
负责人：
Mark Hauber
金额：
$ 63.25万
依托单位：
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2020-06-15 至 2024-02-29
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1953226&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Referential alarm calling

项目摘要

In avian brood parasitism, birds lay their eggs into others’ nests, leaving the foster hosts to look after the parasitic young. Some hosts combat such parasitism by actively defending their nests from adult parasites. Yellow Warblers (Setophaga petechia) produce unique "seet" calls to warn about the presence of Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater). In response to seet calls, female warblers return to sit tightly on the nest to prevent cowbird parasitism. This means that, much like words in human languages, seet calls symbolize cowbird parasitism for the warblers. The project’s aim is to understand how hosts perceive and process the acoustic and functional meaning of these symbolic signals by studying the behavioral responses (in the field) and neurophysiological patterns (using fMRI) of warblers to the cowbird’s own calls, seet calls, and other sounds typical of the warbler’s habitat. The grant will train a postdoctoral fellow, three PhD students, one Master's student, and at least eight undergraduate researchers, including students from groups underrepresented in STEM fields. The researchers will write and share case studies based on their research as open online educational resources for undergraduate courses in organismal biology. Additional broader impacts will include bird banding workshops for the general public, especially during the vibrant migratory seasons in central Illinois and Michigan. Finally, a short 3D virtual reality film-feature will be produced entitled "A Day in the Life of the Cowbird", featuring characteristic daily activities of parasitic birds and their interactions with hosts, as seen from the parasite's own eyes' perspective.Current and past research on alarm calling in animals has often focused on the detailed discovery and characterization of the meaning of referential communication signals. However, the sensory-perceptual abilities of animals to recognize referential calls and the potentially high-level neural processing that ultimately leads to a specific behavioral response have not yet been fully explored. Through integrating field and laboratory experiments and levels of analyses, this research aims to test the overarching hypothesis that referential signaling requires high-level cognitive abilities. Using Yellow Warblers’ anti-brood parasitic alarm calls to Brown-headed Cowbirds as a study system, four specific predictions will be assessed regarding that referential calling (i) involves perceptual equivalency of alarm calls and their referents, (ii) is socially acquired but may be modified by personal experience with cowbirds, (iii) involves mental imagery, episodic-like memory, and mental time travel, modifying future behavior so as to decrease risks to fitness, and (iv) is a functionally specific response to obligate brood parasitism. The project couples behavioral and population-level predictions of Yellow Warblers' responses to seet calls with probing of developmental trajectories and neural substrates of referential communication in wild birds via in vivo imaging (fMRI) to repeatedly collect data across development. This integrative research will provide new perspectives on the cognitive ecology and mechanisms of referential communication, including potentially transformative understanding of the neural substrates underlying the perception of symbolic calls, the existence of mental time travel in novel contexts, and the functional substrates of referential signaling.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.

在禽卵寄生虫中，鸟类将鸡蛋放在别人的巢穴中，使寄养宿主照顾寄生的年轻人。一些宿主通过积极地捍卫其巢中的成年寄生虫来对抗这种寄生虫。黄莺（Setophaga petecia）产生了独特的“ Seet”呼吁，以警告出存在棕色的牛鸟（Molothrus ater）。为了回应呼叫，女莺返回巢上紧紧地坐在巢上，以防止牛鸟寄生。这意味着，就像人类语言中的单词一样，请参见呼叫象征着莺的牛鸟寄生虫。该项目的目的是通过研究（在现场）和神经生理学模式（使用FMRI）（使用fMRI）对牛鸟自己的呼叫的行为响应（在现场）和神经生理学模式（在现场）和神经生理学模式（在现场）的行为响应（在现场中）感知和处理这些符号信号的声学和功能含义，请参见Warblers的呼唤以及其他声音的其他声音。该赠款将培训一名博士后研究员，三名博士学位学生，一名硕士学生和至少八名本科研究人员，包括来自STEM领域中人数不足的团体的学生。研究人员将根据他们的研究来撰写和分享案例研究，作为有机生物学本科课程的开放在线教育资源。其他更广泛的影响将包括为公众举办的鸟类乐队研讨会，尤其是在伊利诺伊州中部和密歇根州充满活力的迁徙季节。最后，将制作出一个简短的3D虚拟现实电影功能，标题为“牛鸟生命中的一天”，具有寄生虫鸟类的特色日常活动及其与宿主的互动，从寄生虫自己的眼睛的角度来看，关于动物的警报呼吁的流动和过去的研究经常集中在详细的发现和特征上的含义的含义。但是，动物的感官感知能力识别参考呼叫和最终导致特定行为反应的潜在高级神经加工的潜在高级神经加工尚未得到充分探索。通过整合现场和实验室实验和分析水平，该研究旨在检验总体假设，即参照信号需要高级认知能力。使用黄莺的抗植物寄生寄生警报呼叫对棕色头头的牛鸟作为研究系统，将评估四个具体的预测（涉及参考呼叫（i））涉及警报呼叫及其参考人的知觉等效性，（ii）可以通过社会获取，但可以通过与牛bird的个人经历（III）相似，（iii）的经历，以及情感上的记忆，以及情感上的记忆，以及情感上的记忆，以及情节型的经历，以至于（III III），以及情感上的旅行，以及情感上的记忆，以及情感上的记忆。健身和（iv）是对育心寄生虫的功能特定反应。该项目伴侣通过体内成像（fMRI）探测了探测发育轨迹的呼叫和探测发育轨迹和神经底物的呼吁的行为和人口水平的预测，以探究遍及野生鸟类的参考性通信（fMRI），以在整个发育过程中反复收集数据。这项综合研究将提供有关认知生态学和参考沟通机制的新观点，包括对符号呼吁感知的神经基质的潜在变革理解，在新颖环境中存在精神时间旅行的存在，以及在参考信号的范围内，这些奖项及其在NSF的法规范围内的影响，这是NSF的众多支持的良好的支持。标准。

项目成果

期刊论文数量（9）

专著数量（0）

科研奖励数量（0）

会议论文数量（0）

专利数量（0）

Loss of graded enemy recognition in a Whitehead population allopatric with brood parasitic Long-tailed Cuckoos

DOI：
10.1101/2020.02.21.958017
发表时间：
2020-02
期刊：
bioRxiv
影响因子：
0
作者：
S. Lawson;Nora Leuschner;B. Gill;J. K. Enos;M. Hauber
通讯作者：
S. Lawson;Nora Leuschner;B. Gill;J. K. Enos;M. Hauber

Do hosts of avian brood parasites discriminate parasitic vs. predatory threats? A meta-analysis

DOI：
10.1016/bs.asb.2021.03.002
发表时间：
2021-01-01
期刊：
ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR, VOL 53
影响因子：
0
作者：
Lawson, Shelby L.;Enos, Janice K.;Hauber, Mark E.
通讯作者：
Hauber, Mark E.

Ecological uncertainty favours the diversification of host use in avian brood parasites

DOI：
10.1038/s41467-020-18038-y
发表时间：
2020-08-21
期刊：
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
影响因子：
16.6
作者：
Antonson, Nicholas D.;Rubenstein, Dustin R.;Botero, Carlos A.
通讯作者：
Botero, Carlos A.

Responses of Female Yellow Warblers to Playbacks Signaling Brood Parasitism or Predation Risk: A Quasi-Replication Study

雌性黄莺对预示巢寄生或捕食风险的回放的反应：一项准复制研究

DOI：
10.26451/abc.08.02.08.2021
发表时间：
2021
期刊：
Animal Behavior and Cognition
影响因子：
0
作者：
Lawson, Shelby L.;Enos, Janice K.;Mendes, Niko C.;Gill, Sharon A.;Hauber, Mark E.
通讯作者：
Hauber, Mark E.

Eavesdropping on Referential Yellow Warbler Alarm Calls by Red-Winged Blackbirds Is Mediated by Brood Parasitism Risk