IntBIO: Collaborative Research: Phenotypes of the Anthropocene: integrating the consequences of sensory stressors across biological scales

动物对环境压力源的反应最终会影响生存和繁殖，有些动物比其他动物更能应对挑战。本研究考察了人类活动对感官污染的生理和行为反应，以预测不同物种的种群脆弱性。该项目将明确地将光和噪音污染对鸟类生理、行为和繁殖成功的影响与景观联系起来，这些刺激与其他城市特征隔离。跨学科研究团队包括生理学、行为学和生态学专家，他们将定量评估个体与群体之间的联系，在多个领域推进我们对人类活动对自然影响的认识。该团队通过采用整体、综合的方法将不同的子学科和生物组织水平结合起来，体现了IntBIO项目的使命。这项研究首次严格评估和联系了生理、行为和健康对感官污染的反应，并在几个物种和多个感官压力源中进行了研究，以获得更大的普遍性。该项目旨在(i)揭示噪音和光污染是否在六种鸟类中始终如一地选择相似的表型；（ii）确定生理、行为和生态反应之间的一般关系，如果它们存在，如果它们不存在，（iii）揭示物种之间的关键差异，这些差异是对这些广泛的全球变化形式敏感的基础。在此过程中，该项目将建立一个可测试的框架，用于概括鸟类对人类造成的感官污染的反应，这可以用来预测物种在日益明亮和嘈杂的人类主导的世界中是会失败还是会茁壮成长。项目影响对保护和教育具有重要的社会效益，其努力跨越(a)对STEM中代表性不足的少数民族进行文化响应性培训，使其成为综合的早期职业生物学家，(b)通过大型网络的实践外展活动和演讲开发和传播外展材料，以及(c)通过与国家公园管理局和国际黑暗天空协会合作，为政策提供信息。该项目解决了三个综合问题，这些问题需要来自不同子学科的专业知识来回答：1)感觉压力源是否形成了可概括的表型？2)行为和生理表型是否影响适合度的最终结果？3)多重感觉压力源是如何跨生物尺度影响生物体的？在光线和噪音的梯度和组合中，团队将测量(a)生理学（例如，糖皮质激素，褪黑激素，睾丸激素，激素受体，时钟基因）和(b)筑巢鸟类的行为（例如，攻击性，胆大，歌曲结构，定居，运动）。在最终的层面上，他们将通过后代的成功（例如，窝的大小，羽翼的存活率）来监测(c)适应结果，以衡量光和噪音污染的单一和综合后果。研究人员将重点研究六种不同生活史特征和人为耐受性的鸣禽，增加我们对单一物种方法的理解。重要的是，响应之间的直接和间接联系将使用结构方程模型进行分析，促进整合，以揭示是否近似和最终关系在物种之间是可推广的。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。

Animal responses to environmental stressors ultimately influence survival and reproduction, and some animals are better prepared to face challenges than others. This research examines physiological and behavioral responses to sensory pollution caused by human activities to predict population vulnerability across different species. The project will explicitly link the effects of light and noise pollution on avian physiology, behavior, and reproductive success in a landscape where these stimuli are isolated from other urban features. The interdisciplinary research team includes experts in physiology, behavior, and ecology who will quantitatively evaluate connections between the individual and population, advancing our knowledge of the effects of human activity on nature across multiple fields. The team embodies the IntBIO program mission by incorporating different sub-disciplines and levels of biological organization using a holistic, integrated approach. The research is the first to rigorously evaluate and link physiological, behavioral, and fitness responses to sensory pollution, and does so across several species and multiple sensory stressors for greater generalizability. The project aims to (i) reveal whether noise and light pollution consistently select for a similar phenotype across six bird species; (ii) identify generalizable relationships between physiological, behavioral, and ecological responses, if they exist, and, if not, (iii) unveil key differences among species that underlie sensitivity to these widespread forms of global change. In doing so, the project will build a testable framework for generalizing avian response to human-caused sensory pollution, which can be used to predict whether species will fail or thrive in an increasingly bright and noisy human-dominated world. Project impacts have important societal benefits to conservation and education, with efforts spanning (a) culturally responsive training of underrepresented minorities in STEM to become integrated, early-career biologists, (b) developing and disseminating outreach materials via hands-on outreach events and presentations across large networks, and (c) informing policy through collaboration with the National Park Service and the International Dark-Sky Association.This project addresses three integrative questions that require expertise from different sub-disciplines to answer: 1) Do sensory stressors shape a generalizable phenotype? 2) Do phenotypes of behavior and physiology affect ultimate outcomes of fitness? and 3) How do combined multi-sensory stressors affect organisms across biological scales? Across gradients and combinations of light and noise, at the proximate level the team will measure (a) physiology (e.g., glucocorticoids, melatonin, testosterone, hormone receptors, clock genes), and (b) behaviors of nesting birds (e.g., aggression, boldness, song structure, settlement, movement). At the ultimate level, they will monitor (c) fitness outcomes via offspring success (e.g., clutch size, fledgling survival) to measure singular and combined consequences of light and noise pollution. The researchers will focus on six songbirds that vary in life history traits and anthropogenic tolerance, increasing our understanding beyond single-species approaches. Importantly, the direct and indirect links among responses will be analyzed using structural equation models, facilitating integration to reveal whether proximate and ultimate relationships are generalizable across species.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.