Collaborative Research: Mechanisms of Color Perception in Wild Hummingbirds

相对于人类，鸟类的色觉非常好。人类的眼睛有三种颜色锥体，分别对蓝光、绿光和红光敏感。鸟类有这三个锥体，外加一个对紫外线敏感的锥体。正因为如此，长期以来人们一直不清楚鸟类的颜色知觉是如何工作的。要回答这个问题，研究鸟类的自然栖息地是至关重要的。这项研究计划将研究野生蜂鸟的颜色视觉机制，这些蜂鸟依靠颜色觅食和求偶。研究人员将在野外进行详细的颜色学习实验，结合生理和基因组研究，了解蜂鸟如何在日常生活中使用颜色感知。这将为检验有关授粉、配偶选择和羽毛颜色的生态和进化假说提供新的机会。由于四色(四种色锥类型)起源于早期的脊椎动物(并存在于鸟类、许多鱼类和爬行动物中)，揭示蜂鸟颜色视觉的细节将有助于更深入地了解许多动物的颜色视觉。总体而言，这项工作将对学习和记忆、神经生物学、人类色觉、色盲和视觉相关疾病等领域做出广泛贡献。蜂鸟作为关键的传粉者和环境健康的生物指标也具有重要的生态意义，这项研究将为它们如何感知世界提供洞察力。研究人员将为中学生设计深入的教育项目，在落基山生物实验室、学校和自然历史博物馆举行。此外，研究人员将召开一次研讨会，重点介绍最近在蜂鸟研究和保护方面的突破。这一综合性研究将提高我们对鸟类色觉的理解。鸟类有一个古老而复杂的颜色视觉系统，它们用来寻找食物，识别配偶，并在复杂的风景中导航。近年来，实验室中详细的心理物理实验已经对鸟类的颜色视觉机制产生了重要的见解。然而，实验室实验往往缺乏生态背景，几乎没有揭示种群中的个体在颜色感知和认知方面的差异。因此，我们对鸟类如何在自然界中使用和处理颜色信息的了解有限。该项目在科罗拉多州落基山生物实验室及其周边地区调查野生、自由生活的蜂鸟的颜色感知/认知机制。这项研究计划有四个主要目标。首先，研究人员将使用现场行为实验来测试鸟类色觉的标准模型。其次，他们将设计与生态相关的实验，解释蜂鸟在觅食和求偶过程中经常经历的颜色。第三，他们将确定蜂鸟色觉的生理机制。第四，他们将探索支持颜色视觉的遗传和基因组机制，特别是与紫外线和短波敏感基因有关的机制。蜂鸟提供了一个令人信服的研究系统，因为它们从具有五颜六色的花卉展示的不同植物物种中觅食，因此可以迅速学习和记忆不同的颜色。使用先进的心理物理工具和RFID技术，结合生理和基因组分析，该项目将提供野生蜂鸟颜色感知如何发挥作用的机制图。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Birds have excellent color vision, relative to humans. Humans have three color cone types in their eyes, sensitive to blue, green and red light, respectively. Birds have these three cones plus a fourth which is sensitive to ultraviolet light. Because of this it has long been unclear how avian color perception works. To answer this question, it is critical to study birds in their natural habitats. This research program will investigate mechanisms of color vision in wild hummingbirds, which rely on color for foraging and courtship. The investigators will perform detailed color-learning experiments in the field, combined with physiological and genomic studies, to understand how hummingbirds use color perception in their daily lives. This will provide new opportunities for testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses about pollination, mate choice and plumage coloration. Because tetrachromacy (four color cone types) developed in early vertebrates (and exists in birds, many fish and reptiles), uncovering the details of hummingbird color vision will provide a deeper understanding of color vision in many animals. Overall, this work will contribute broadly to the fields of learning and memory, neurobiology, human color vision, colorblindness and vision-related diseases. Hummingbirds are also of great ecological importance as critical pollinators and bioindicators of environmental health, and this research will provide insights into how they perceive the world. The researchers will design in-depth educational programs for middle school students, to be held at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, in schools and at natural history museums. In addition, the researchers will convene a workshop highlighting recent breakthroughs in hummingbird research and conservation. This integrative study will improve our understanding of avian color vision. Birds have an ancient and sophisticated color vision system, which they use to find food, identify mates and navigate through complex landscapes. In recent years, detailed psychophysical experiments in laboratories have yielded important insights into the mechanisms of color vision in birds. However, laboratory experiments often lack ecological context and reveal little about how individuals in a population may vary in color perception and cognition. As a result, we have a limited understanding of how birds use and process color information in the natural world. This project investigates mechanisms of color perception/cognition in wild, free-living hummingbirds at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado and the surrounding area. This research program has four main aims. First, the investigators will test standard models of avian color vision using field-based behavioral experiments. Second, they will design ecologically relevant experiments that account for colors hummingbirds experience often in the context of foraging and courtship. Third, they will determine the physiological mechanisms responsible for color vision in hummingbirds. Fourth, they will explore the genetic and genomic mechanisms underpinning color vision, particularly with respect to the genes for ultraviolet- and shortwave-sensitivity. Hummingbirds provide a compelling study system because they forage from diverse plant species with colorful floral displays and, consequently, can quickly learn and remember different colors. Using advanced psychophysical tools and RFID technology, combined with physiological and genomic analyses, this project will provide a mechanistic picture of how color perception works in wild hummingbirds.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.