U.S.-Germany Cooperative Research: The Paddlefish Detacting and Mapping the Outside World - Experiment and Modeling

该奖项支持Lon Wilkens和密苏里大学圣彼得堡分校的一名研究生。路易斯与德国慕尼黑工业大学物理系的利奥·范·赫姆姆合作。这项合作试图了解白对虾被动电感官探测和捕获浮游生物猎物的神经机制。这种鱼有一个独特的细长的嘴，最近被证明在浮游生物摄食中起到了天线的作用。白鳍鱼是研究绘制感觉环境的神经机制的理想对象，因为白鳍鱼对电场的敏感度很高，并在没有其他感觉输入的情况下为幼鱼的准确摄食提供必要的感觉信息。神经解剖学和电生理学实验将为模拟外周电感受器系统和表征外周对天然浮游生物猎物的敏感性提供参数。合作将结合德国集团的理论建模专业知识和美方的实验能力。

9981709WilkensThis award supports Lon Wilkens and a graduate student from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in a collaboration with Leo van Hemmem of the Department of Physics at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. The collaboration seeks to understand the neural mechanisms which underlie passive electrosensory detection and capture of planktonic prey by paddlefish. That fish has a unique, elongated rostrum which has recently been shown to act as an antenna in plankton feeding. The paddlefish is an ideal subject for studying the neural mechanisms which map the sensory environment since the paddlefish sensitivity to electric fields is acute and provides sensory information necessary for accurate feeding strikes by juvenile fish in the absence of other sensory inputs. Neuroanatomical and electophysiological experiments will provide parameters for modeling the peripheral electroreceptive system and for characterizing peripheral sensitivity to natural planktonic prey. The collaboration will combine the theoretical modeling expertise of the German group with the experimental capabilities of the U.S. side.