Collaborative Research: An interdisciplinary approach to understand selfish parental care of egg and larvae in mixed-species communal nest breeding freshwater fishes

合作研究：采用跨学科方法来了解混合物种公共巢繁殖淡水鱼中卵和幼虫的自私父母照顾

• 批准号: 2039667
• 负责人: Eugene Maurakis
• 金额: $ 20.93万
• 依托单位: University of Richmond
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2039667&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; interdisciplinary; approach; understand

Faced with danger such as a predator, animals commonly exhibit selfish behavior to gain survival advantages over others when in a herd, school, flock, or swarm. What is not widely documented, but probably common, is whether animals selfishly protect their young at the expense of others when they have control over an assemblage consisting of their own young mixed with others unrelated to them. This study will investigate such possible selfish protection of eggs and larvae orchestrated by fish parents when their eggs are mixed with those of other species in their nest. By characterizing water flow and oxygen levels and risk of predation of eggs in various locations in the nest and genetically identifying the species of eggs found in these locations, the researchers will be able to determine the relative quality and safety of the locations where the nest host places its eggs for incubation and whether that indicates selfish parental care behavior. They also will observe fish behaviors during nest building and spawning, directly and with videography, to interpret placement and defense of eggs in the context of selfishness, nest parasitism, and the selfish herd theory. As species unique to North America, mound-nest building minnows represent a natural and cultural heritage that scientists have largely overlooked in their studies of animal behavior. Communicating improved understanding of these fishes to the general public through a documentary grounded in science and artistic performances, will ensure effective publicization of scientific knowledge to garner support for preservation of native freshwater fishes with unique behaviors and ecosystem roles.Selfishness underpins most animal behaviors as individuals act to maximize their own fitness, often at others’ expense. Using a putatively mutualistic communal nest breeding freshwater fish system, this study will expand Hamilton’s selfish-herd theory in two key ways by: 1) including an abiotic stimulus as a defining threat for individual selfish behavior, and 2) recognizing that embryonic ‘herds’ may be created by parents to confer selfish-herd benefits on their brood in an incubation environment. Specifically, this study will: i) Investigate how ambient dissolved oxygen modifies the relationship between fitness and spatial position in a mixed-species egg and larval aggregation formed to reduce predation risk, ii) Determine if and how selfish-herd effect is conferred on incubating host brood through egg and larval distribution in a mixed-species freshwater fish nest-association, and iii) Bridge the public-knowledge gap about breeding behaviors (nest building, spawning, agonistic combat, and cooperative-competitive interactions) and ecosystem roles of native freshwater fishes. Built on an interdisciplinary collaboration between biologists, geoscientists and computational engineers, this study will be the first to characterize selfish-herd behavior in a three-dimensional incubation environment, using a combination of field observations, experimentation, and high-precision, physics-based simulation of water and silt movement and dissolved oxygen dynamics in mound nests. The investigator’s will use a novel application of computational fluid dynamics to characterize aquatic nest abiotic environment and its consequence for survival of eggs and larvae. Success of this study will provoke fundamental rethinking of some “nest-parasitism” phenomena, common among birds and fishes, as potentially context-dependent mutualisms.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.

面对捕食者等危险，动物通常表现出自私的行为，以在群体、学校、群体或群体中获得比其他动物更好的生存优势。没有广泛记录，但可能很常见的是，当动物控制着由自己的幼崽和与自己无关的其他幼崽组成的群体时，它们是否自私地保护自己的幼崽，而不是牺牲其他幼崽的利益。这项研究将调查当鱼的卵与其他物种的卵在巢中混合时，鱼父母精心策划的对卵和幼虫的自私保护。通过表征巢中不同位置的水流、氧气水平和被捕食的蛋的风险，并从基因上识别在这些位置发现的蛋的种类，研究人员将能够确定巢宿主放置孵化蛋的位置的相对质量和安全性，以及这是否表明自私的父母照顾行为。他们还将直接和录像观察鱼类在筑巢和产卵过程中的行为，在自私、巢寄生和自私羊群理论的背景下解释卵的放置和防御。作为北美特有的物种，土丘筑巢的小鱼代表着一种自然和文化遗产，而科学家们在对动物行为的研究中基本上忽视了这一点。通过一部以科学和艺术表演为基础的纪录片，向公众传播对这些鱼的更好的了解，将确保有效地宣传科学知识，以独特的行为和生态系统角色为保护本土淡水鱼获得支持。自私是大多数动物行为的基础，因为个人采取行动最大化自己的健康，通常是以牺牲他人为代价的。这项研究利用一个假定的互惠共生的公共淡水鱼繁殖系统，将从两个关键方面扩展汉密尔顿的自私群体理论：1)将非生物刺激作为个人自私行为的决定性威胁；2)认识到胚胎‘群体’可能是父母在孵化环境中创造的，为他们的幼崽提供自私群体利益。具体地说，这项研究将：i)调查环境溶解氧如何改变混合物种卵和幼体聚集中的适合度和空间位置之间的关系，以减少捕食风险；ii)确定自私群体效应是否以及如何被赋予通过在混合物种淡水鱼巢中的卵和幼体分布来孵化寄主幼崽的自私群体效应；以及iii)弥合关于本地淡水鱼的繁殖行为(筑巢、产卵、竞争战斗和合作-竞争相互作用)和生态系统角色的公共知识差距。这项研究建立在生物学家、地球科学家和计算工程师之间的跨学科合作基础上，将结合现场观察、实验和基于物理的高精度模拟水和泥沙运动以及土丘巢中的溶解氧动力学，首次描述三维孵化环境中的自私羊群行为。研究人员将使用计算流体力学的一种新应用来描述水生巢穴非生物环境及其对卵和幼虫生存的影响。这项研究的成功将促使人们从根本上重新思考一些在鸟类和鱼类中常见的“巢寄生”现象，这些现象可能与背景相关。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。