EAGER: Social foraging in Ameiva lizards

依赖他人信息获取食物的动物从事社会性觅食，这可能包括窃取食物(盗寄生症)、集体清扫和合作狩猎社会性食肉动物等不同行为。有充分记录的社会性觅食的例子并不均匀地集中在某些动物群体中，尽管这种现象很普遍，并延伸到通常不被认为是社会性的动物。这项急切的提议的目的是开发一条关于蜥蜴Ameiva Corax的社会觅食的调查路线。对A.Corax的试验研究表明，社会性觅食对这种蜥蜴很重要；大型食物分享食物是常见的，蜥蜴获得成年海鸟带到巢中喂养雏鸟的材料(盗寄生症的一种形式)。该项目将侧重于描述Ameiva Corax的觅食生态，特别关注Ameiva Corax与提供食物的海鸟之间的相互作用。对自然觅食的蜥蜴的观察和调查将被用来确定1)个体蜥蜴之间的联系模式，2)蜥蜴获得食物的人口统计和社会地位，以及3)蜥蜴获得鱼的环境。这项研究将丰富对跨环境和跨动物群体的社会觅食特征的理解，并将作为进一步研究评估社会行为模式的普遍性的基础。这项研究将为代表性不足的学生提供研究培训，其结果以及后续努力将纳入一所部落学院的教育活动。结果将通过向学校和其他组织(包括但不限于学校、部落组织和自然历史俱乐部或中心)的演示向普通公众传播。

Animals that rely on information from others to obtain food are engaging in social foraging, which can include such diverse behaviors as food stealing (kleptoparasitism), communal scavenging, and the cooperative hunting of social carnivores. Well documented examples of social foraging are unevenly concentrated in certain animal groups, though the phenomenon is widespread and extends to animals typically not considered social. The purpose of this EAGER proposal is to develop a line of inquiry concerning the social foraging of the lizard Ameiva corax. Pilot work on A. corax indicates that social foraging is important to this lizard; food sharing is common for large food items and lizards obtain material that adult seabirds bring to the nest to feed nestlings (a form of kleptoparasitism). This project will focus on characterizing the foraging ecology of Ameiva corax, with particular attention devoted to the interactions between A. corax and provisioning seabirds. Observations and surveys of naturally foraging lizards will be used to determine the 1) patterns of association among individual lizards, 2) demographic and social status of lizards that secure food, and 3) circumstances under which lizards obtain fish. The study will enrich understanding of the characteristics of social foraging across circumstances and across animal groups, and will serve as the basis for further studies evaluating the generality of models of social behavior. This study will provide research training to underrepresented students, and the results as well as follow-up efforts will be incorporated into educational activities at a tribal college. Results will be disseminated to the general public through presentations to schools and other organizations (including, but not limited to, schools, tribal organizations, and natural history clubs or centers).