Collaborative Research: IMAGINE FG: Linking the genetic basis of spatial cognition to natural selection in a food-caching bird

了解认知的进化以及自然选择是否能够塑造认知能力，是动物行为和进化生物学研究的主要目标。认知使动物能够适应不断变化的条件，众所周知，它既受环境条件的影响，也受发育条件的影响。与此同时，物种之间和物种内部的认知能力存在相当大的差异，这种差异的原因尚不清楚。人们通常认为，认知能力的差异可以直接由自然选择来塑造，最近，我们提供了证据表明，与食物储备恢复有关的空间认知能力的个体差异是直接选择的结果。山雀是一种小鸟，依靠它们的记忆来隐藏和寻找数以千计的食物，并依靠它们的食物储藏来越冬。这项研究的中心目标是了解自然选择如何塑造学习和记忆能力，并揭示学习和记忆能力变异的遗传基础。为了与广大受众分享我们研究的重要性，我们将使用多方面的更广泛的影响战略，重点放在学生培训、社区参与和教育上，总体上侧重于通过致力于公平、包容和多样性来扩大代表不足群体的参与。我们将在内华达州和科罗拉多州的自然历史博物馆通过在两个实地站的公开讲座吸引普通公众以及普通公众和当地学校的学生。该项目将为两名博士后研究员以及众多研究生和本科生提供培训，他们将通过既定的项目招聘，这些项目支持传统上在STEM中代表性较低的学生。首先是了解以食物为主食的山地山雀特殊空间记忆的遗传基础。二是测量专门化空间记忆的遗传力。第三是了解自然选择如何影响构成专门空间记忆的基因组区域的遗传变异。第四是通过比较来自不同山脉的种群来确定空间记忆的遗传基础是否在地理上一致。为了实现这些目标，这项研究将从两个不同山脉的种群中抽取山雀样本。在其他数据类型中，这项工作将结合全基因组序列数据、序列捕获数据和空间认知数据，以深入理解自然选择塑造空间认知变异的机制。这项工作由综合组织系统部门的行为系统小组和环境生物学部门的进化过程小组共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Understanding the evolution of cognition and whether natural selection can shape cognitive abilities, is a major goal of the study of animal behavior and evolutionary biology. Cognition allows animals to adjust to changing conditions, and it is well known to be affected by both environmental and developmental conditions. At the same time, there is considerable variation in cognitive abilities both between and within species and causes of such variation remain unclear. It is generally assumed that variation in cognitive abilities can be shaped directly by natural selection and recently, we provided evidence that individual variation in spatial cognitive abilities involved in the recovery of food caches in food-caching mountain chickadees is under direct selection. Mountain chickadees are small birds that rely on their memory to hide and find thousands of food items and depend on their food caches for overwinter survival. The central goal of the research is to understand how natural selection shapes learning and memory ability and to uncover the genetic basis of variation in learning and memory ability. To share the importance of our research with a broad audience, we will use a multifaceted broader impacts strategy focused on student training, community engagement, and education with an overall focus on broadening participation of underrepresented groups through a commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity. We will engage the general public through public lectures at two field stations and both general public and students from local schools at Natural History Museums in Nevada and in Colorado. The project will provide training to two postdoctoral fellows as well as to numerous graduate and undergraduate students, who will be recruited through established programs that support students traditionally underrepresented in STEM.This research has four aims. The first is to understand the genetic basis of specialized spatial memory in food-caching mountain chickadees. The second is to measure heritability of specialized spatial memory. The third is to understand how natural selection shapes genetic variation in genomic regions that underlie specialized spatial memory. The fourth is to determine if the genetic basis of spatial memory is geographically consistent by comparing populations from different mountain ranges. To meet these aims, the research will sample mountain chickadees from populations in two different mountain ranges. Among other data types, the work will combine whole genome sequence data, sequence capture data, and spatial cognition data to develop a deep understanding of the mechanisms by which natural selection shapes variation in spatial cognition. This work is jointly funded by the Behavioral Systems Cluster in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems and the Evolutionary Processes Cluster in the Division of Environmental Biology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.