种子气味对分散贮食鼠类空间记忆分配策略的影响

分散贮藏是鼠类应对食物资源短缺的适应性行为，重新找回贮藏的种子并加以利用对分散贮食鼠类生存至关重要。建立在贮食点上的空间记忆和气味信号是贮食鼠类找回贮藏种子的重要途径。种子气味可作用于嗅觉影响鼠类对贮食点的找回，但种子气味能否调节鼠类空间记忆在贮藏点上的分配进而影响贮食行为，目前尚无实验证据。为此我们提出科学假设：鼠类在分散贮食点上的空间记忆分配策略可能存在权衡，受种子气味强度的调节。基于此假设，我们以分散贮食鼠类小泡巨鼠和多种植物种子为研究对象，采取动物行为学、蛋白质组学、分析化学以及免疫组织化学等方法，结合鼠类嗅觉障碍诱导模型以及种子气味强度人工调节等手段，揭示种子气味对鼠类空间记忆分配的影响，阐明鼠类贮食过程中空间记忆的分配机制，验证分散贮食鼠类的空间记忆策略受种子气味调节的假设，进一步阐明空间记忆和嗅觉在鼠类分散贮藏中的作用，揭示鼠类分散贮藏和贮食点找回的行为学机制。

Scatter-hoarding is an adaptive behavior to food shortage of food hoarding rodents, therefore, cache recovery and utilization are crucial for survival of scatter-hoarding rodents. Spatial memory and olfaction cues from seeds in caches are important ways for scatter-hoarding rodents to retrieve their cached food. Seed odor can directly affect cache recovery, but whether the allocation of spatial memory on caches is regulated by seed odor in caches remain to be answered. Here we pose the hypothesis that scatter-hoarding rodents will trade off their spatial memory on caches based on seed odor intensity. To test this, we plan to use scatter-hoarding rodent Leopoldamys edwardsi and seeds of several plant species as a seed-rodent system in a subtropical evergreen forest in Sichuan province, to investigate how seed odor affects and manipulates spatial memory allocation of scatter-hoarding rodents relying on behavioral experiments, proteomics, analytical chemistry and immunohistochemistry combined with anosmic rodent models and seed odor manipulation. By doing so, we are able to know how seed odor affects allocation of spatial memory and to test the hypothesis that the allocation strategy of spatial memory on caches is regulated by seed odor. The research will help us to highlight the important role of olfactory and spatial memory in scatter-hoarding and to reveal the behavioral mechanism of scatter-hoarding and cache recovery of food-hoarding rodents.