The Relative Importance of Alarm and Safety Communication Networks in an Amazonian Bird Community

众所周知，动物会从其他物种那里获取威胁的信息，但人们越来越意识到，它们也可能从其他物种那里获得有关安全的信息。一些亚马逊鸟类生活和觅食关系密切，是量化警报和安全信号相对重要性的理想系统。通过利用伐木和开发造成的生态梯度，减少了共同生活的鸟类数量，该项目将成为第一批比较和对比物种间威胁和安全网络的项目之一，同时确定它们对人为挑战的健壮程度。这些洞察对于在人类改变环境变化的时代管理种群具有基础性的重要意义，这些结果将确定关键的行为机制，这些机制最终可能是不同生物群落中物种相互作用的驱动因素。在这样做的同时，这个项目将培养本科生和研究生，并将为加州州立大学长滩分校和加州大学洛杉矶分校的不同背景的学生搭建一座当地的学术桥梁。此外，该项目将为加利福尼亚州两个学区的公立学校编制基于探究的教学计划，作为秘鲁研究活动正在进行的外联工作的一部分，并向学生提供更广泛的代表，让不同的人成为科学领域的榜样，并揭开科学过程的神秘面纱。人们越来越意识到，动物往往受益于其他物种成员发出的警报信号中包含的公共信息。虽然许多研究都集中在相关或相似物种的混合物种组上，但最近的一些例子说明了信号是如何在相当不同的分类组之间使用的。尽管强调窃听警报信号，但动物也通过窃听其他物种发出的与威胁无关的声音来获得有关安全的信息。了解公共信息环境中警报信号和安全提示之间的相互作用，对于了解通信在塑造群体内物种互动方面的作用以及这如何影响更大的社区是至关重要的。该项目将研究亚马逊鸟类混合种群在沿森林退化梯度的全社区警报和安全窃听网络中的作用。结果将确定这些网络的相对重要性，以及这些系统对个体物种丧失的健壮程度。这些洞察力对于预测生物群落在人类改变的环境变化中可能发生的变化具有基础性的重要意义，这些结果将确定可能最终推动不同生物群落中物种相互作用的关键行为机制。这一奖项反映了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。

It has long been known that animals obtain information about threats from other species, but there is a growing awareness that they also may obtain information about safety from other species. Some Amazonian birds live and forage together in close associations and are an ideal system to quantify the relative importance of alarm and safety signaling. By capitalizing on ecological gradients created by logging and development, which have reduced the number of birds living together, this project will be among the first to compare and contrast interspecific threat and safety networks and while doing so determine how robust they are to anthropogenic challenges. These insights are foundationally important to manage populations in an era of human modified environmental changes, and these results will identify key behavioral mechanisms that may ultimately be drivers for species interactions in diverse biological communities. While doing so, this project will train students at the undergraduate and graduate level and will generate a local academic bridge for students from diverse backgrounds at California State University Long Beach, a primarily undergraduate institution, and the University of California at Los Angeles. Additionally, this project will generate inquiry-based lesson plans for public schools in two California school districts as part of an ongoing outreach effort stemming from research activities in Peru and present students with a broader representation of diverse people as role models in science and to demystify the scientific process. There is a growing awareness that animals often benefit from the public information contained in alarm signals produced by members of other species. While much research has focused on mixed-species groups of related or similar species, some recent examples illustrate how signals are also used between quite distinct taxonomic groups. Despite the emphasis on eavesdropping on alarm signals, animals also acquire information about safety by eavesdropping on the non-threat-related sounds produced by other species. Understanding the interplay between alarm signals and cues of safety within the public information landscape is essential to understand the role of communication in shaping species interactions within groups and how this influences the larger community. This project will study the roles of mixed-species flocks of Amazonian birds in community-wide alarm and safety eavesdropping networks along a gradient of forest degradation. Results will identify the relative importance of these networks and how robust these systems are to the loss of individual species. These insights are foundationally important to predict how biological communities may change across human modified environmental changes, and these results will identify key behavioral mechanisms that may ultimately be drivers for species interactions in diverse biological communities.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.