The role of plasticity in the evolution of novelty in animal communication

理解新特征是如何产生的是解释地球上生命多样性的基础，但想象动物交流中如何产生新特征是具有挑战性的，因为交流需要发送者和接收者之间的协调。例如，如果发送者进化出一个新的信号，它可能不会被预期的接收者视为或识别为信号。然而我们知道新的信号确实会进化。可塑性被认为是一种可能的解释。可塑性指的是生物体对环境的反应而发生的变化。例如，可能接触到一个新的信号会改变接收者的偏好，使他们愿意接受带有这种信号的发送者。在这项提案中，研究人员利用了最近发现的两种新的信号（歌曲），太平洋蟋蟀用它们来吸引配偶。研究人员提出了一个大型的繁殖实验，让雄性和雌性蟋蟀从很小的时候就开始听不同的歌曲，包括这两首新歌。然后，研究人员将测量成年蟋蟀的可塑性，以获得一系列生殖特征，从而揭示可塑性在新奇性起源中的作用。该项目还整合了支持LGBTQ+社区青年科学家的教育目标，指导不同类型的本科生进行独立研究，创建使用本研究数据的教学资源来教授可塑性和新颖性，并使用基于网络的公民科学平台让公众直接参与研究。在宏观进化尺度上，新颖性很容易被发现，新颖的特征可以推动多样性，但实时观察新颖性的机会很少，因此缺乏经验例子和询问新特征如何产生的机会。想象动物之间的交流是如何进化的尤其具有挑战性，因为交流需要发送者和接收者之间的协调。有研究表明，表型可塑性可能促进新性状的形成，而发育可塑性则与创新密切相关。最近在夏威夷的海洋Teleogryllus oceanicus种群中进化出了两种新的信号（歌曲），这为验证可塑性促进新新性建立的中心假设提供了前所未有的机会。研究人员提出了一项大型的声学饲养实验，以测量祖先和衍生形态中生殖性状套件的接受者和发送者的可塑性。这项工作将揭示新颖性是否可以在缺乏可塑性的情况下进化，或者是否新的通信信号是由接受者、发送者或两者的可塑性促进的。使用环境基因型育种设计还将确定可塑性是否早于新信号特征的起源，以及在生殖过程的哪个阶段可塑性克服了生殖障碍。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 how new traits arise is fundamental to explaining the diversity of life on Earth, but it is challenging to imagine how novel traits could arise in animal communication because communication requires coordination between a sender and a receiver. For example, if a sender evolves a novel signal, it may not be perceived or recognized by the intended receiver as a signal. Yet we know that novel signals do evolve. Plasticity has been suggested as a possible explanation. Plasticity refers to changes in an organism in response to the environment. For example, perhaps exposure to a novel signal plastically changes the preferences of the receiver so that they are willing to accept senders with this signal. In this proposal, the researchers capitalize on the recent discovery of two novel signals (songs) that Pacific field crickets use to attract mates. The researchers propose a large breeding experiment where male and female crickets are exposed to different songs, including the two novel songs, beginning at a young age. Researchers will then measure plasticity in adult crickets for a suite of reproductive traits to uncover the role of plasticity in the origins of novelty. This project also integrates education aims to support young scientists in the LGBTQ+ community, mentoring diverse undergraduate students in independent research, creating teaching resources that use data from this research to teach about plasticity and novelty, and using a web-based citizen science platform to allow the public to participate directly in the research. Novelty is readily detectable on a macroevolutionary scale, and novel traits can drive diversification, but opportunities to observe novelty in real time are rare, so empirical examples and opportunities to ask how novel traits arise are lacking. It is particularly challenging to imagine how novelty could evolve in animal communication because communication requires coordination between a sender and a receiver. It has been suggested that phenotypic plasticity may facilitate the establishment of novel traits, and developmental plasticity has been specifically linked to innovation. Two novel signals (songs) recently evolved in Hawaiian populations of Teleogryllus oceanicus, providing an unprecedented opportunity to test the central hypothesis that plasticity facilitates the establishment of novelty. The researchers propose a large breeding experiment with acoustic rearing treatments to measure plasticity in receivers and senders for suites of reproductive traits in ancestral and derived morphs. The work will reveal whether novelty can evolve in the absence of plasticity or instead if novel communication signals are facilitated by plasticity in receivers, senders, or both. The use of a genotype-by-environment breeding design will also establish whether plasticity pre-dates the origin of novel signal features and at what stages of the reproductive process plasticity overcomes reproductive barriers.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.