Behavior in a hot world: mechanisms and consequences of heat stress on behavioral performance

气温上升是对整个生命之树的生物体的全球性挑战。新的研究表明，高温会影响对繁殖和生存至关重要的行为，例如选择配偶和觅食，并且这些影响发生在远低于导致死亡的温度下。这项研究的核心目的是了解这些行为如何受到高温的影响。这项研究结合了机械和功能的方法，以斑胸草雀为研究生物体，提供了新的见解，在个人水平上的行为表现在热变化。作为一种干旱地区的鸟类，斑胸草雀是对不断增加的热量威胁做出行为反应的哨兵物种。核心研究目标也将融入相互关联的教育和外展活动。这些努力的核心是科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育与田纳西大学的外展团体之间的新合作，以开发，实施和评估行为和热生态学交叉点的新K12课程材料。在这个过程中，支持K12教室和田纳西州东部经济落后的阿巴拉契亚地区的STEM教师管道。急性热攻击对动物行为的致死作用尚未得到充分研究，特别是对于与交配相关的行为，如广告和配偶选择。这种知识上的差距对于吸热型动物尤其明显，吸热型动物能够进行体温调节，但仍然面临越来越普遍和越来越严重的热暴露。迫切需要确定这些热行为影响的范围以及行为热耐受性的关键驱动因素。为了满足这一需求，拟议的研究使用了一种经过充分研究的鸟类斑马雀（Taeniopygia guttata）的对照实验，以解决两个目标：（1）实验性地生成行为热响应曲线，重点是雄性歌曲和雌性偏好，以及（2）测试如何预先暴露于热在热挑战条件下改变行为表现。通过解决这些目标，本研究实现了确定热暴露对行为的机制和后果的总体目标。满足这项研究的研究目标将建立强大的理论功能，行为反应不断增加的威胁热。在此过程中，本提案将评估行为在当今最紧迫的全球挑战之一中的关键作用。 这项工作是共同资助的行为系统集群和综合生态生理学计划，无论是在综合有机体系统的司。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Rising temperatures are a global challenge to organisms across the tree of life. Emerging research suggests that high temperatures can affect behaviors critical to reproduction and survival, such as choosing a mate and foraging, and that these effects occur at temperatures well below those that cause death. The core aim of this study is to generate understanding of how such behaviors are affected by elevated temperatures. The study combines mechanistic and functional approaches to provide new insights into individual-level variation in behavioral performance in heat using zebra finches as the study organism. As an arid-zone bird, zebra finches are a sentinel species for behavioral responses to the ever-increasing threat of heat. The core research aim will also be woven into inter-related educational and outreach activities. The centerpiece of these efforts is a new collaboration between Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and outreach groups at the University of Tennessee to develop, implement and assess new K12 curricular materials at the intersection of behavioral and thermal ecology, in the process supporting K12 classrooms and a STEM teacher pipeline in the economically disadvantaged Appalachian region of East Tennessee.The sub-lethal effects of acute thermal challenges on animal behavior are not well-studied, particularly for mating-related behaviors such as advertisement and mate choice. This gap in knowledge is especially marked for endotherms, which are capable of thermoregulation but nevertheless face increasingly common and increasingly severe heat exposure. There is an urgent need to identify the scope of these behavioral effects of heat and the key drivers of behavioral thermal tolerance. To meet this need, the proposed research uses controlled experiments with a well-studied avian species, zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), to address two aims: (1) experimentally generate behavioral thermal response curves, focused on male song and female preferences and (2) test how pre-exposure to heat alters behavioral performance under thermally challenging conditions. By addressing these aims, this research achieves the overall goal of identifying the mechanisms and consequences of heat exposure on behavior. Meeting the study's research objectives will build robust theory on functional, behavioral responses to the ever-increasing threat of heat. In doing so, this proposal will evaluate the critical role of behavior in one of today's most pressing global challenges. This work is co-funded by the Behavioral Systems Cluster and the Integrative Ecological Physiology Program, both in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems.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.