NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Multimodal Animal Communication Ecology

公众对有毒农药持续增长的使用感到担忧，这促使监管机构淘汰或限制农药的使用。这反过来又导致许多害虫死灰复燃，而另一些害虫继续攻击食物、纤维和人类，严重影响我们的健康和以自然资源为基础的经济。迫切需要改进害虫控制方法和化学农药的替代品。主席的更新建议涉及其中的一些替代方案：昆虫（和一些脊椎动物）利用多模式觅食线索或通信信号进行通信和定位资源。重点是多模态和多成分刺激的发现，因为越来越多的证据表明动物整合不同类型的信息。新的视觉、符号化学、声音、红外、生物磁性和静电觅食线索和通信信号的发现，以及它们之间的协同效应，将有助于开发更有效的诱饵或驱虫剂，以及针对特定目标的害虫控制的新策略。第三任主席任期将扩大研究项目，不仅包括害虫，还包括宠物。狗是人类最好的朋友，但我们对它们的交流知之甚少，而且经常把它们限制在“不友好”的环境中。对犬类双峰通信信号和与猎物相关的锻造线索的研究有望丰富犬类的无生命环境，抵消行为剥夺的影响。这项研究也将为其他家畜的类似研究提供动力。

Public concern over continued and growing use of toxic pesticides has prompted regulatoryagencies to eliminate pesticides or restrict their use. This, in turn, has led to the resurgence of manypests, while others continue their assault on food, fibre and people, severelyaffecting our health and natural resource-based economy. Improved pest control methods and alternatives to chemical pesticides are urgentlyneeded. The renewal proposal of the Chair is about some of those alternatives: multimodal foraging cues or communicationsignals that insects (and some vertebrates) utilize to communicate and locate resources. The emphasis is on thediscoveryof multi-modal and multi-component stimuli because increasing evidence indicates that animals integrate diverse types of information. The discoveryof novel visual, semiochemical, sonic, infrared, biomagnetic, and electrostatic foraging cues and communication signals, and synergistic effects between them, would allow the development of more effective baits or repellents, and new tactics for target-specific pest control. The third Chair term will expand the research program to include not onlypests but also pets. Dogs are man's best friend but we know surprisinglylittle about their communication, and all too often confine them under "unfriendly" conditions. The proposed research on canine bi-modal communication signals and prey-related forging cues is expected to enrich the dogs' inanimate environment and to counteract the effects of behavioural deprivation. This research will also provide impetus for similar studies on other domestic animals.