Balancing Social and Ecological Information to Collectively Manage Dynamic Environments

动物无论是在行为上还是在生理上，都通过身体上的感受器来管理日常和季节性的环境波动，例如温度变化。对于群居动物来说，个体通常在一个群体中一起工作，以更有效地管理这些波动，比如通过挤在一起，但我们对动物是如何做到这一点的知之甚少。例如，蜜蜂是研究社会温度调节的一个很好的模型系统，因为它们从事一种称为扇风的冷却行为，一群蜜蜂扇动翅膀使蜂群内的空气流通。如果它们不能有效冷却，蚁群就会死亡。这个项目将确定蜜蜂用来感知环境波动的机制，它们的大脑如何响应这些信息而变化，它们如何相互交流这些信息，以及当信息变化时整个蜂群如何调节温度。生理和基因测试技术将用于理解个人和集体行为，特别是在不断变化的环境中。该项目将吸引公众参与：1)通过制定当地监狱养蜂计划，为囚犯提供切实的劳动力技能；2)通过与ROSE项目合作，重点向代表性不足的中学生和家长介绍STEM研究；3)通过在当地养蜂和生态会议上发表演讲；4)通过培训和支持本科生、研究生和博士后科学家进行这些前沿研究和推广技术。生物必须能够从行为和生理上管理气候的日常和季节性波动。在白天或季节的典型热转换期间，感觉接收和信息整合对于维持体内平衡至关重要。对温度变化的集体行为反应需要有效地接收和整合社会和生态信息。虽然我们知道动物为什么会调节体温，但我们不太清楚动物是如何整合社会信息来有效调节体温的。蜜蜂必须在蜂群中保持34°C，否则它们正在发育的幼蜂就有死亡的危险。在夏天，蜜蜂会进行一种叫做扇风的降温行为，它们扇动翅膀，让空气流通，给蜂群降温。蜜蜂利用来自同伴的信息和来自生态环境的信息来集体调节温度。扇风响应随社会和热信息的变化而变化；然而，个人或群体感知、整合或沟通这些变化以集体行为的方式是未知的。本提案将通过解决以下四个目标来确定这些机制：1)确定社交互动如何塑造粉丝反应；2)揭示与扇动反应相关的神经基因网络；3)确定TRP通道参与扇动反应；4)在变化的环境中评估群体水平的扇风反应。这项研究将提供关于复杂动物系统如何管理动态环境的关键知识，确定介导有效反应的基因和感觉途径，并产生关于动物群体如何管理全球气候变化的假设。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。

Animals, whether behaviorally or physiologically, manage daily and seasonal environmental fluctuations, such as temperature changes, by using receptors on their bodies. For social animals, individuals often work together in a group to manage these fluctuations much more effectively, such as through huddling, yet little is known about exactly how animals accomplish this. Honeybees, for example, are an excellent model system to study social temperature regulation because they engage in a cooling behavior called fanning, in which a group of bees fan their wings to circulate air in the colony. If they do not cool effectively, the colony can die. This project will identify the mechanisms that honeybees use to sense environmental fluctuations, how their brains change in response to this information, how they communicate this information to each other, and how entire colonies regulate temperature when information changes. Physiological and genetic testing techniques will be used to understand both individual and collective behavior, especially in changing environments. The project will engage the public 1) by developing a local prison beekeeping program to provide tangible workforce skills for inmates, 2) by working with the ROSE Project, which focuses on introducing underrepresented middle school students and parents to STEM research, 3) by presenting at local beekeeping and ecology meetings, and 4) by training and supporting undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scientists in these cutting-edge research and outreach techniques.Organisms must be able to behaviorally and physiologically manage daily and seasonal fluctuations in climate. Sensory reception and integration of information is critical to maintain homeostasis during typical thermal shifts across days or seasons. Collective behavioral responses to changing temperatures require effective reception and integration of both social and ecological information. Although we know why animals thermoregulate, it is less clear how animals integrate social information to be able to thermoregulate effectively. Honeybees must maintain 34°C in their colony, or risk death of their developing brood. In the summer, honeybees engage in a cooling behavior called fanning, in which they fan their wings to circulate air to cool the colony. Fanner honeybees utilize both information from their nestmates and information from their ecological environment to collectively thermoregulate. The fanning response shifts when the social and thermal information changes; however, the ways in which individuals or groups perceive, integrate, or communicate about these changes to behave collectively is unknown. This proposal will identify these mechanisms by addressing four aims: 1) Determine how the social interactions shape the fanning response; 2) Uncover the neural gene networks associated with the fanning response; 3) Define TRP channel involvement in the fanning response; and 4) Evaluate colony-level fanning response in a changing environment. This research will provide critical knowledge about how complex animal systems manage dynamic environments, identify gene and sensory pathways that mediate effective responses, and generate hypotheses about how animal groups may manage global climate change.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.