Neuroendocrine Bases and Environmental Regulation of Reproduction in a Flexibly Breeding Songbird

项目名称：主要研究者：Pierre Deviche，Arizona State University项目编号：IOS 1026620本项目将联合收割机对自由放养生物的野外研究和在受控实验室环境中的实验，以研究脊椎动物生殖灵活性的神经内分泌基础。它将使用从分子技术到整体动物实验的多学科方法，以确定动物如何整合外部环境线索来调节与季节性生殖相关的神经内分泌和生理变化。这项研究将有助于揭示一些脑肽在控制季节性中的作用，以及这些肽的脑表达如何受到特定环境因素的影响。这些发现将有助于我们理解生殖弹性的基础，并将增强我们对某些环境扰动（例如可能与全球气候变暖有关的环境扰动）对脊椎动物种群生殖生理学影响的理解。这项研究的实验模型将是一只鸣禽。许多鸟类是引人注目的，一般来说，鸟类本身就对公众有吸引力。因此，这些研究将用于促进与动物如何适应全球气候变暖和其他人为干扰其自然环境的影响有关的基本和先进的生物学概念。实验数据将通过Ask-a-Biologist网站公开提供，该网站非常受欢迎，旨在促进各级科学教育，特别是在高中。研究的各个方面都将涉及本科生和研究生的指导和积极参与。

PROJECT TITLE: Neuroendocrine Bases and Environmental Regulation of Reproduction in a Flexibly Breeding SongbirdPRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Pierre Deviche, Arizona State UniversityPROJECT NUMBER: IOS 1026620This project will combine field studies on free-ranging organisms with experiments in a controlled laboratory setting to investigate the neuroendocrine bases of vertebrate reproductive flexibility. It will use multidisciplinary approaches ranging from molecular techniques to whole animal experiments in order to determine how animals integrate external environmental cues to regulate neuroendocrine and physiological changes associated with seasonal reproduction. The research will contribute to unraveling the role of some brain peptides in the control of seasonality and how the brain expression of these peptides is influenced by specific environmental factors. The findings will be relevant to our understanding of the bases of reproductive resilience and they will enhance our comprehension of the effects of some environmental perturbations, such as those potentially associated with global climate warming, on the reproductive physiology of vertebrate populations. The experimental model for the research will be a songbird. Many birds are conspicuous and birds in general are inherently fascinating to the general public. The studies will, therefore, be used to promote basic and advanced biological concepts related to how animals may adapt to the effects of global climate warming and other anthropogenic perturbations of their natural environments. Experimental data will be made publicly available through the Ask-a-Biologist web site, a wildly popular site that promotes science education at all levels, but in particular in high schools. All aspects of the research will involve the mentoring and active participation of undergraduates and graduate students.