Collaborative Research: Toward a Spatially-Explicit Theory of Thermoregulatory Behavior

大量证据表明，许多动物具有行为体温调节功能，但只有一种模型可以解释为什么有些动物的体温调节很精确，而另一些动物的体温调节很差。这个简单的体温调节成本效益模型似乎没有考虑到在生物体中观察到的体温调节策略的多样性。这个模型很可能失败了，因为它没有明确地解释环境的空间结构。研究人员将结合实验和理论工作，证明空间结构对体温调节的适宜性成本具有重要影响。他们将独立操纵环境温度和环境斑块，以测试有关室外围栏中温度调节的预测。栅栏蜥蜴(Scelopus Undulatus)预计会根据环境温度的统计和空间分布来调整它们的体温。这项实验将为温度调节的成本效益模型提供最有力的实验测试之一。研究人员还将开发一个空间上明确的温度调节模型，使研究人员能够预测自然环境中的行为，在自然环境中，捕食者、竞争对手和猎物与热资源共存。该模型将由计算机模拟组成，以探索在特定环境中演变的热偏好和运动模式。研究人员最终将能够使用人工神经网络产生的自然环境热图来应用他们的模型。该项目将极大地改进对当前温度调节理论的测试，并通过明确包括空间结构引起的温度调节成本来扩展理论。这一新理论将使研究人员能够预测复杂环境中的行为策略，包括空间结构和生物相互作用。该项目还将为印第安纳州立大学、南伊利诺伊大学和其他大学的研究和教育任务做出重大贡献。首先，该项目将支持对本科生和研究生中代表性不足群体的学生进行培训。其次，该项目将增加高中教师的教育和外展机会。第三，该项目将促进关于生理和行为生态的计算机建模的跨机构研讨会，这将为研究生和教职员工之间的互动提供正式机会。

A wealth of evidence suggests many animals behaviorally thermoregulate, but only one model exists to explain why some animals regulate precisely and other do so poorly. This simple cost-benefit model of thermoregulation does not seem to account for the diversity of thermoregulatory strategies observed among organisms. Likely, this model fails because it does not explicitly account for the spatial structure of the environment. The investigators will combine experimental and theoretical work to show that spatial structure has important consequences for the fitness cost of thermoregulation. They will independently manipulate environmental temperatures and environmental patchiness to test predictions about thermoregulation in outdoor enclosures. Fence lizards (Sceloporus undulatus) are expected to adjust their body temperatures according to both the statistical and the spatial distributions of environmental temperatures. This experiment will provide one of the strongest experimental tests of the cost-benefit model of thermoregulation. The investigators will also develop a spatially-explicit model of thermoregulation that enables researchers to predict behavior in natural environments, where predators, competitors and prey covary with thermal resources. The model will consist of computer simulations to explore both the thermal preferences and the movement patterns that evolve in particular environments. The researchers will ultimately be able to apply their model using thermal maps of natural environments, produced by artificial neural networks. The project will provide a vastly improved test of the current theory of thermoregulation, and expand theory by explicitly including costs of thermoregulation that arise from spatial structure. The new theory will enable researchers to predict behavioral strategies in complex environments, which include spatial structure and biotic interactions. The project will also make significant contributions to the missions of research and education at Indiana State University, Southern Illinois University, and beyond. First, the project will support the training of students who are members of under-represented groups at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Second, the project will enhance education and outreach opportunities for high school teachers. Third, the project will foster cross-institutional workshops on computer modeling of physiological and behavioral ecology, which will provide formal opportunities for interaction among graduate students and faculty.