CAREER: The Role of Light Environment and Genetics in Shaping Visual and Behavioral Plasticity

许多动物依靠视觉线索来指导寻找食物、寻找配偶和躲避捕食者等行为。视觉线索的可探测性受到环境的影响，因为栖息地有不同数量和质量的环境光。由于栖息地特定的环境光变化，假设共享同一栖息地的物种的眼睛对该栖息地的光的颜色最敏感。这种视觉调节可能是视觉基础基因的结果，也可能是对环境线索的反应的结果，例如感官系统发育和成人视力的诱导变化。然而，目前尚不清楚遗传和环境因素如何共同作用，产生我们所看到的不同的成人视觉系统。利用蝴蝶这一生态和经济上重要的传粉者群体，该项目将确定动物视觉系统对光环境变化反应的遗传机制。然后，该项目将研究视觉变化对传粉者食物选择和配偶选择的下游影响，从而将基因、栖息地以及觅食和配偶选择行为联系起来。为了加强公众对环境对动物行为和传粉者丰度的影响的了解，研究人员将利用蝴蝶的魅力性质，让数百名不同年龄和背景的学生参与一个社区科学研究项目。这个项目与当地一家非营利性植物园、人文学院的教师以及科学和人文课程的大学生合作，研究了蝴蝶的季节性行为和光反应。该项目将确定遗传以及环境和发育光环境在塑造蝴蝶视觉能力以及随后的花朵偏好和配偶选择方面的作用。蝴蝶是一种重要的传粉者。众所周知，环境光环境会影响动物最容易看到的光的颜色，但动物根据发育线索改变视觉以适应光环境变化的能力仍然知之甚少。诱导视觉调谐的环境线索和这些过程背后的基因都没有得到很好的描述。通过结合发育和遗传操作、转录学、行为学和田野生态学的综合方法，拟议的研究将解决以下问题：1)发育光环境是否影响蝴蝶视觉系统的发育以及随后的觅食和交配行为？2)哪些基因与对光变化的发育和行为反应有关？3)同种视觉信号是否随着光环境的变化而变化，从而提高可探测性和视觉调节？4)传粉者群落是否表现出与环境光和背景颜色的季节性变化相对应的视觉调节？通过表征光环境在塑造视觉系统中的作用，并确定季节性物种组合是否表现出与光环境的季节性变化相匹配的视觉调谐变化，这项工作将增强科学和农业社区预测传粉者对土地利用和光环境变化的行为反应的能力。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。

Many animals rely on visual cues to guide behaviors such as finding food, finding mates, and avoiding predators. The detectability of visual cues is influenced by environment, as habitats have different amounts and qualities of ambient light. Due to habitat-specific variation in ambient light, it is hypothesized that the eyes of species that share the same habitat are adapted to be most sensitive to the colors of light in that habitat. This visual tuning may be the result of genes underlying vision as well as responses to environmental cues, such as induced changes in sensory system development and adult vision. However, it remains unclear how genetics and environmental cues work together to produce the diverse adult visual systems we see. Using butterflies, an ecologically and economically important group of pollinators, the project will determine the genetic mechanisms underlying the responsiveness of animal visual systems to changes in light environment. The project will then examine the downstream effects of variation in vision on pollinator food selection and mate selection, thus connecting genes, habitat, and both foraging and mate selection behavior. To enhance public understanding of the effects of environment on animal behavior and pollinator abundance, the researcher will utilize the charismatic nature of butterflies to engage hundreds of students of all ages and backgrounds in a Community Science Research project. This project examines the seasonal behavior and light responses of butterflies in collaboration with a local non-profit botanical garden, faculty in the humanities, and college students from both science and humanities courses.This project will identify the role of genetics and ambient and developmental light environments in shaping visual ability and subsequent flower preference and mate selection in butterflies, a prominent group of pollinators. Ambient light environment is known to influence what colors of light are easiest for animals to see, yet the ability of animals to modify their vision to match changes in light environment in response to developmental cues remains poorly understood. Neither the environmental cues inducing visual tuning nor the genes underlying these processes are well described. Using an integrative approach that combines developmental and genetic manipulation, transcriptomics, behavior, and field ecology, the proposed research will address the following questions: 1) Does the developmental light environment influence visual system development and subsequent foraging and mating behavior in butterflies? 2) What genes are associated with developmental and behavioral responses to variation in light? 3) Do conspecific visual signals vary with light environment, improving detectability and visual tuning? 4) Do pollinator communities exhibit visual tuning corresponding to seasonal changes in ambient light and background color? By characterizing the role of light environment in shaping visual systems and determining whether seasonal species assemblages exhibit shifts in visual tuning that match seasonal shifts in light environment, this work will enhance the scientific and agricultural communities’ ability to predict pollinator behavioral responses to changes in land use and light environment.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.