DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Selection and Signal Evolution: Diversification of Peacock Spiders (genus: Maratus)

这个项目研究孔雀蜘蛛的色觉，孔雀蜘蛛是一些被描述的颜色最明显的动物。 这组男性表现出复杂的色彩图案腹部风扇和数据表明，这些彩色补丁是由女性作出交配决定。孔雀蜘蛛和一般的跳蛛都有一些最独特的视觉系统。然而，对于这些蜘蛛以及许多其他动物来说，一个长期存在的问题尚未得到解答，那就是雌性如何评估颜色。 该项目的总体目标将是测试以下假设：物种之间视觉系统特征的差异与该组中看到的颜色和求偶表现的多样性有关。深入研究这些动物的视觉特性将增强我们对该系统中已经收集的行为和生态数据的解释，告知我们对感觉系统局限性的理解，并为未来研究这种魅力蜘蛛群以及其他动物的感觉生态学提供必要的基础。所有的结果和调查结果将通过在同行评审期刊上发表、参加专业会议和在线数据库向各种受众广泛提供。此外，研究人员还致力于在所有年龄段的学生中开展推广和教育。跳海蛛拥有动物王国中最独特的视觉系统之一，并且很容易通过其独特的眼睛排列与其亲属区分开来。特别是，他们的前正中眼（AME）扩大，并含有分层视网膜。关于分层视网膜功能的主要假设是，每一层表达具有不同吸收光谱的不同光感受器，然而，这仅针对单一物种进行了测试。这意味着之前关于盐中毒视觉显示的研究只能对女性在评估潜在伴侣时能够感知到的内容做出假设。跳蛛属的跳蛛是异常的两性异形，不仅在它们的外观，而且，男性的行为远远偏离女性的信号背景。因此，拟议的研究旨在测试Maratus是否存在色觉，基于不同视蛋白基因的存在，和/或光学和视网膜特征。此外，我们将调查这些属性的变化是否驱动信号进化和/或物种多样性。具体来说，我们将确定Maratus视蛋白基因和眼睛中的任何视网膜前过滤，以及测量视网膜中光感受器的峰值灵敏度和相对丰度。这些目标将通过使用生物信息学和显微分光光度法（MSP）来实现。我们希望视觉系统进化的成功评估将为未来的跳蛛（一种特殊但研究不足的微型动物群）以及其他动物群体的感官进化工作带来重大突破。

This project examines color vision in peacock spiders, which are some of the most conspicuously colored animals described. Males of this group exhibit complex color patterns on abdominal fans and data suggest that these colored patches are used by females to make mating decisions. Peacock spiders, and jumping spiders in general, have some of the most unique visual systems described. However, a long-standing question that has yet to be answered for these spiders, as well as many other animals, is how do females evaluate color. The overall goal of the project will be to test the hypotheses that differences in visual system features between species are related to the diversity of colors and courtship displays seen across this group. An in-depth look at the visual properties of these animals will enhance our interpretation of behavioral and ecological data already collected in this system, inform our understanding about sensory system limitations as well as provide the necessary groundwork for future research on the sensory ecology of this charismatic spider group as well as other animals. All of the results and findings will be widely available to a variety of audiences through publication in peer-reviewed journals, participation in professional conferences, and online databases. In addition, the researchers have a strong commitment to outreach and education among students of all ages.Salticids have one of the most unique visual systems in the animal kingdom, and are easily distinguished from their relatives by their distinctive eye arrangement. In particular, their anterior median eyes (AME) are enlarged, and contain tiered retinae. The leading hypothesis about the function of tiered retinae is that each layer expresses a different photoreceptor with distinct absorption spectra, however, this has only been tested for a single species. This means that previous research on salticid visual displays has only been able to make assumptions about what females are able to perceive when evaluating potential mates. Salticids of the Maratus genus are exceptionally sexually dimorphic, not only in their appearance, but also, male behavior wildly deviates from that of females in a signaling context. Thus, the proposed research is designed test if color vision exists for Maratus, based on the presence of different opsin genes, and/or optical and retinal characteristics. Furthermore, we will investigate whether variation in these properties has driven signal evolution and/or species diversity. Specifically, we will identify Maratus opsin genes and any pre-retinal filtering in the eye, as well as measure peak sensitivities and relative abundance of photoreceptors in the retina. These objectives will be accomplished through the use of bioinformatics and microspectrophotometry (MSP) methods. We expect that a successful evaluation of visual system evolution will present a major breakthrough for enabling future work on sensory evolution in jumping spiders, an exceptional yet understudied micro-fauna, as well as other animal groups.