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.

面对危险，如捕食者，动物通常表现出自私的行为，以获得比其他动物更有利的生存优势。一个没有被广泛记载，但可能很普遍的问题是，当动物控制着一个由自己的孩子和与自己无关的孩子组成的群体时，它们是否会自私地保护自己的孩子，而牺牲其他孩子的利益。本研究将调查当鱼的卵与巢中其他物种的卵混合时，鱼父母对卵和幼虫可能的自私保护。通过表征巢穴中不同位置的水流和氧气水平以及鸡蛋被捕食的风险，并从基因上识别这些位置发现的鸡蛋的种类，研究人员将能够确定巢穴宿主放置鸡蛋孵育位置的相对质量和安全性，以及这是否表明父母的自私照顾行为。他们还将直接观察鱼类在筑巢和产卵过程中的行为，并通过录像来解释卵在自私、巢寄生和自私群体理论背景下的放置和防御。作为北美特有的物种，筑土墩的小鱼代表着一种自然和文化遗产，而科学家们在研究动物行为时却在很大程度上忽视了这一点。透过以科学和文艺表演为基础的纪录片，向公众宣传对这些鱼类的认识，从而有效地宣传科学知识，争取公众支持保护具有独特行为和生态系统作用的本地淡水鱼。自私是大多数动物行为的基础，因为个体的行为往往以牺牲他人为代价，使自己的健康最大化。本研究使用一个假定的互惠共生的公共巢繁殖淡水鱼系统，将从两个关键方面扩展汉密尔顿的自利群体理论：1)将非生物刺激作为个体自私行为的定义威胁；2)认识到胚胎“群体”可能是由父母在孵化环境中创造的，以赋予其后代自利群体利益。具体而言，本研究将：i)研究环境溶解氧如何改变混合鱼卵和幼虫聚集形成的适应性和空间位置之间的关系，以降低捕食风险；ii)确定在混合鱼卵和幼虫的分布中，自私群体效应是否以及如何被传递给孵育的寄主幼崽；iii)弥合关于繁殖行为（筑巢、产卵、激烈战斗）的公共知识差距；以及合作-竞争相互作用)和本地淡水鱼的生态系统角色。建立在生物学家、地球科学家和计算工程师之间跨学科合作的基础上，这项研究将是第一个在三维孵化环境中描述自私群体行为的研究，该研究结合了实地观察、实验和高精度的、基于物理的模拟水和淤泥运动以及丘巢中溶解氧动力学。研究者将使用计算流体动力学的新应用来表征水生巢的非生物环境及其对卵和幼虫存活的影响。这项研究的成功将引发对一些“巢寄生”现象的根本性反思，这些现象在鸟类和鱼类中很常见，是潜在的依赖于环境的相互作用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。