International Research Fellowship Program: Information Content and Signal Function of Song and Bright Plumage in a Wild Bird

0202704帕克国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。 该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，以及使用独特或互补的设施，专业知识和国外的实验条件。帕克与本杰明·C·英国牛津大学的谢尔顿说，鸟鸣是自然界中最普遍的声音之一。在许多物种中，歌曲可能会吸引配偶，但这种可能性还没有得到很好的研究。研究动物的行为，如鸟鸣，对我们了解自然的基础知识和解决保护和物种管理的应用问题的能力都很重要。该项目通过1）使用实验操作来确定物种内个体之间歌曲变化的原因，以及2）将歌曲研究的结果与合作者正在进行的视觉（羽毛）信号和同一种群中的配偶吸引力的研究相结合。因此，这将是迄今为止对单一物种内多种信号（歌声和明亮的羽毛）的相对条件依赖性和信号作用的最全面的研究。PI和他的合作者将在一种常见的欧洲鸟类中控制育雏数量（增加或删除巢中的雏鸟）。 这操纵了对父母的供应需求和每只小鸡提供的食物，因此是一种经过验证的增加或减少父母和后代状况的方法。在一年后的育雏操作，PI将记录歌曲的父亲操纵的育雏，和歌曲的返回男性谁是饲养在操纵的育雏。 这将是一个独特的全面评估的程度，不同的歌曲成分包含不同的信息，他们的持有人的条件。 如果信号表达（即，song）是条件依赖性的，理论预测其在种内通信中是有用的。 PI将评估歌曲的不同方面在确定男性接近女性和男性成功占据领土方面的重要性。 再次，歌曲和羽毛的数据将被整合，以产生一个全面的图片的功能，性信号在研究物种。除了博士谢尔顿，PI将与博士西蒙格里菲斯合作。 这两位研究人员近年来都参与了一些最重要的鸟类性选择研究。 主办部门是世界上鸟类野外生态学研究的领先机构之一，其创新研究传统可以追溯到半个多世纪。

0202704ParkerThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-four month research fellowship by Dr. Timothy H. Parker to work with Dr. Benjamin C. Sheldon at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.Bird song is one of the most ubiquitous sounds in nature. In many species, song may act to attract mates, but this possibility has not been well studied. Studying animal behaviors, such as bird song, is important both to our basic knowledge of nature and to our ability to address applied problems of conservation and species management. This project breaks new ground by 1) using experimental manipulations to determine the causes of variation in songs among individuals within a species and 2) integrating the results of the song study with the collaborators' ongoing study of visual (feather) signals and mate attraction in the same population. Thus, this will be the most comprehensive study to date of the relative condition dependence and signaling roles of multiple signals (song and bright feathers) within a single species. The PI and his collaborators will manipulate brood size (add or remove chicks from nests) in a common European bird. This manipulates the provisioning demands on the parents and the food delivered per chick and is thus a proven method for increasing or decreasing condition in both parents and offspring. In the year subsequent to brood manipulations, the PI will record the songs of the fathers of manipulated broods, and the songs of returning males who were reared in manipulated broods. This will be a uniquely thorough assessment of the degree to which different song components contain different information about their bearer's condition. If signal expression (i.e., song) is condition dependent, theory predicts that it can be useful in intra-specific communication. The PI will assess the importance of different aspects of song in determining male access to females and male success in holding a territory. Once again, song and plumage data will be integrated to generate a comprehensive picture of the function of sexual signals in the study species.In addition to Dr. Sheldon, the PI will collaborate with Dr. Simon Griffith. Both of researchers have been involved in some of the most important avian sexual selection research in recent years. The host department is one of the leading institutions in the world for the study of avian field ecology, with a tradition of innovative research extending back over a half a century.