Mechanisms of Long-Term Monogamous Relationships in Zebra Finches

PI：Elizabeth Adkins-Regan这个项目将探索雄性和雌性斑胸草雀之间形成终身配对的机制。 生物学不仅试图解释大多数生物的一般特征（生命的基本过程），而且还试图解释生物形式和生活方式的多样性。动物交配系统有很大的多样性。 这种多样性包括雄性和雌性是否为了繁殖而形成长期密切的社会关系的有趣变化。长期的一夫一妻制关系，包括为动物的生活配对，分散在整个动物世界（包括一些人类种群），但在鸟类中最常见。人们对这种交配系统知之甚少。这项研究的目的是解释功能（如何这种关系导致更好的繁殖）和生理负责形成和维护这些关系使用一个物种，斑胸草雀，为生活配对。这项研究将回答这样的问题：如果鸟类继续与同一个伴侣而不是选择一个新的伴侣，它们的繁殖是否会更成功？鸟类配对和保持配对是否需要性激素的作用？青春期的性激素对配对有长期影响吗？他们是否负责从对父母的依恋过渡到对配对伴侣的依恋？配偶分离后的生理应激反应在失去配偶后的重新配对中起什么作用？分离后的生理变化是否是通常阻止分离的成本的一部分？这些方法将包括在青少年发育和成年期间的激素和社会操纵，旨在测量配对偏好和状态的行为测试，以及生殖成功和激素水平的测定。通过发现什么是负责配对和保持在一起，这项研究将回答重要的问题，并将提供和测试新的假设，适用于广泛的社会一夫一妻制动物的生态相关行为的生理学。这项研究还将提供宝贵的培训和科学生涯的一个重要开端，为大量的本科生和研究生的性别和不同的背景和起源。

PI: Elizabeth Adkins-ReganThis project will explore the mechanisms of the lifetime pair bond that forms between male and female zebra finches. Biology seeks to explain not only general features of most organisms (fundamental processes of life) but also the diversity in organismal forms and lifestyles. There is great diversity in animal mating systems. This diversity includes interesting variation in whether males and females form long-term close social relationships in order to reproduce. Long-term monogamous relationships, including pairing for the life of the animals, are scattered throughout the animal world (including some human populations) but are most common in birds. This kind of mating system is poorly understood. The objective of this research is to explain the function (how such relationships lead to better reproduction) and the physiology responsible for the formation and maintenance of these relationships using a species, the zebra finch, that pairs for life. The research will answer questions such as: are the birds more reproductively successful if they continue with the same partner rather than choose a new partner? Are sex hormone actions required for birds to pair and to remain paired? Do pubertal sex hormones have any long-term effect on pairing? Are they responsible for the transition from attachment to the parents to attachment to the pairing partner? What is the role of the physiological stress response following separation of the pair in re-pairing following loss of the partner? Are physiological changes following separation part of the costs that normally prevent separation? The methods will include hormonal and social manipulations during juvenile development and adulthood, behavioral testing designed to measure pairing preference and status, and determination of reproductive success and hormone levels. By discovering what is responsible for pairing and remaining together, this research will answer important questions and will offer and test new hypotheses about the physiology of ecologically relevant behavior applicable to a broad array of socially monogamous animals. The research will also provide valuable training and an important start to a scientific career for a large number of undergraduate and graduate students of both genders and of diverse backgrounds and origins.