International Research Fellowship Program: Neuroendocrine Adaptations to Stress in Passerines of the Tibetan Plateau

0701325戴维斯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9到24个月的研究。 该项目的获奖者将有机会与中国科学院北京动物研究所的雷福民博士和加州大学戴维斯分校的约翰温菲尔德博士进行为期18个月的合作研究。在极端气候环境中，动物必须定期改变大脑功能和行为，以生存和繁殖。这种适应可能发生的最重要的方面之一是压力神经生理学。以前的工作探索在北极和高山栖息地繁殖的鸟类的应激反应的神经内分泌相关揭示，这些物种往往动态调节应激反应，通过改变几个神经内分泌的“弹性点”，使他们能够适应性地最小化或最大化的反应，以科普恶劣的气候条件，而在同一时间成功地繁殖和养育年轻。虽然对这种极端气候繁殖者的神经生理学进行了大量的探索，但对在地球上最荒凉和最不寻常的环境之一-青藏高原-繁殖和越冬的鸟类的神经生理学知之甚少。本项目将探讨和解决栖息在青藏高原北方地区雀形目鸟类应激敏感性的行为和神经内分泌相关性。这个位置提供了一个独特的机会来研究鸣禽的压力适应，部分原因是它的隔离和恶劣的气候条件，也是它对全球气候变化的敏感性，但也因为许多物种的鸟类原产于这一地区不迁移南方在冬季。人们对这些物种如何在冬季生存，以及它们与迁徙和低海拔入侵物种的区别知之甚少，特别是在应激神经生理学方面。在这个项目的过程中，我们将在冬季、初夏和夏末从高原上的几个种群和地点的一些特有的藏族物种中采集组织和血浆样本，用于分析与皮质酮敏感性和糖皮质激素受体密度以及其他形态学、行为学和生理学措施有关的问题。此外，一些捕获的鸟类将被转移到中国科学部在高原上的一个鸟舍设施，使我们能够实验性地调节温度和气候条件，以及人工调节皮质酮水平（通过非侵入性局部皮质酮溶液），并密切监测任何行为或神经内分泌变化，从这种调节。本研究采用综合方法探索环境，生态，生理和行为的相互作用，特别强调具有独特价值的地理区域。

0701325DavisThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine 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 an eighteen-month research fellowship by Dr. Jason Davis to work with Dr. Lei Fu-Min, Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Zoology in Beijing, China and with Dr. John Wingfield, University of California, Davis. In climatically extreme environments, animals must regularly alter brain function and behavior in order to survive and reproduce. One of the most important dimensions in which such adaptation can occur is stress neurophysiology. Previous work exploring neuroendocrine correlates of stress responsivity in birds breeding in Arctic and alpine habitats has revealed that such species often dynamically modulate responses to stress through alteration of several neuroendocrine "flex points," allowing them to adaptively minimize or maximize responses to cope with harsh climatic conditions, while at the same time successfully breeding and rearing young. Though there has been substantial exploration of the neurophysiology of such extreme climate breeders, much less is known about the neurophysiology of birds that both breed and winter in one of the planet's most inhospitable and extraordinary environments - the Tibetan Plateau. This project will explore and address behavioral and neuroendocrine correlates of stress sensitivity in passerine birds inhabiting the northern areas of the Tibetan Plateau. This location provides a unique opportunity to study stress adaptation in songbirds, in part because of its isolation and harsh climatic conditions and also its sensitivity to global climate change, but also because many species of birds native to this area do not migrate south during the winter months. Very little is known as to how these species survive in the winter, and how they differ from migratory and lower-altitude invasive species, particularly in regards to stress neurophysiology. In the course of this project, we will take tissue and plasma samples from a number of endemic Tibetan species from several populations and locations on the plateau, during the winter, early summer, and late summer for analysis in relation to corticosterone sensitivity and glucocorticoid receptor density, as well as additional morphological, behavioral and physiological measures. In addition, a number of captured birds will be transferred to a Chinese Ministry of Science aviary facility on the plateau, allowing us to experimentally modulate temperature and climatic conditions as well as to artificially modulate corticosterone levels (via non-invasive administration of a topical corticosterone solution), and closely monitor any behavioral or neuroendocrine changes that result from such modulations. This research takes an integrative approach to exploring the interactions of environment, ecology, physiology and behavior, with a special emphasis on a geographic area of unique value.