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可以塑造认知能力，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环境，众所周知，它受到环境和发育条件的影响。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。一般认为，认知能力的变化可以直接由自然选择形成，最近，我们提供了证据，表明在食物贮藏山山雀中，空间认知能力的个体差异参与了食物贮藏的恢复，这是直接选择的结果。山雀是一种小型鸟类，依靠它们的记忆来隐藏和寻找成千上万的食物，并依靠它们的食物储存库来过冬。本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，我们将采用多方面的更广泛影响战略，重点放在学生培训、社区参与和教育上，总体重点是通过承诺公平、包容和多样性，扩大代表性不足群体的参与。我们将通过在两个野外站点的公开讲座以及在内华达州和科罗拉多州的自然历史博物馆的公众和当地学校的学生来吸引公众。该项目将为两名博士后以及众多研究生和本科生提供培训，这些学生将通过既定的项目招募，这些项目将支持传统上在STEM领域代表性不足的学生。这项研究有四个目的。首先是了解山山雀储存食物的特殊空间记忆的遗传基础。二是测量特定空间记忆的遗传力。第三个是了解自然选择如何在专门空间记忆的基础上形成基因组区域的遗传变异。第四是通过比较不同山脉的种群，确定空间记忆的遗传基础在地理上是否一致。为了实现这些目标，这项研究将从两个不同山脉的山雀种群中取样。在其他数据类型中，该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，以深入了解自然选择形成空间认知变异的机制。这项工作是由综合生物系统部门的行为系统集群和环境生物学部门的进化过程集群共同资助的。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.