DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Jumping Spiders and Aposematic Prey: Testing the Ecological Consequences of a Context Shift Effect During Learned Avoidance

论文研究：跳蜘蛛和失语症猎物：在习得的回避过程中测试上下文变化效应的生态后果PI：伊丽莎白·M·雅各布博士：克里斯塔·D·斯科夫许多动物，包括昆虫和蜘蛛，都可以学会将环境细节与对它们的生存重要的事件联系起来，例如食物的位置或适口性。许多研究表明，环境背景线索可以作为事件的一部分存储在记忆中。当一只动物试图回忆起在不断变化的环境中的重要联系时，这可能会产生问题。如果背景线索在动物学习联想和测试其对联想的记忆之间发生变化，对联想的回忆可能会受到影响。作者之前的工作证明，跳蛛Phidippus princeps可以学习避免令人反感的厌食性猎物，但当环境线索改变时，就会失去这种联系。他们建议通过测试以下几个方面来扩大他们的研究范围：改变后重新学习相同的联系是否比最初的学习更快；不同环境中植被的细微变化是否会像更戏剧性的改变一样导致记忆记忆受损；背景环境线索是否可以单独用于做出有益的觅食决定；以及当一种食物更难吃、遗忘变得更昂贵时，在环境改变后是否更容易回忆起一种联系。这项工作将有助于理解在学习过程中注意背景线索的生态后果、捕食者心理和猎物的适应策略。原则研究人员在指导本科生研究人员方面有很好的记录，并将让本科生参与这项研究的所有方面。

DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Jumping spiders and aposematic prey: testing the ecological consequences of a context shift effect during learned avoidancePI: Dr. Elizabeth M. JakobCo-PI: Christa D. SkowMany animals, including insects and spiders, can learn to associate environmental details with events that are important to their survival, such as the location or palatability of a food item. Numerous studies have shown that environmental background cues can be stored in memory as part of an event. This can create a problem when an animal tries to recall an important association across a changing environment. If background cues change between the time that an animal learns an association and when its memory of the association is tested, recall of the association can be compromised. Previous work by the authors demonstrated that the jumping spider Phidippus princeps can learn to avoid distasteful aposematic prey, but lose the association when environmental cues shift. They propose to broaden their study by testing the following: whether relearning the same association after a shift is faster than initial learning, whether subtle shifts in vegetation across environments result in impaired memory recollection as do more dramatic shifts, if background environmental cues alone can be used to make beneficial foraging decisions, and whether it is easier to recall an association after an environmental shift when a food item is more unpalatable and forgetting becomes more costly. This work will contribute to the understanding of the ecological consequences of attending to background cues during learning, predator psychology, and adaptive strategies of prey. The principle investigators have a strong track record of mentoring undergraduate researchers, and will involve undergraduates in all aspects of this research.