Can birds use chemical cues to assess potential mates?

这项研究的目的是增加我们对配偶评估和选择的线索的理解。动物如何以及为什么选择特定个体作为配偶而避开其他个体是进化生物学的基本问题。然而，它们通常会做出我们无法用现有理论解释的择偶决定，而且个体之间择偶偏好的不一致是经常发生的。一种可能的解释是，动物对人类无法接受的感官信息做出反应，因此被忽视了。我认为鸟类对化学信息的利用可能是一个突出的例子。众所周知，鸟类有味觉，但传统观点认为它们是微嗅觉（嗅觉差），这阻碍了对这一领域的重大研究。然而，现在有令人信服的证据表明，鸟类不仅有一个功能性的嗅觉系统，而且还可以探测和响应环境中的嗅觉刺激，以寻找食物、导航，甚至识别同种动物和个体。然而，值得注意的是，鸟类是否使用化学线索来评估潜在配偶的质量和适宜性（这在其他脊椎动物中很常见）从未得到过实验测试。在一套全新的实验中，我将(a)调查一个人的气味特征（即组成他们体味的化学物质的独特组合）是否可以编码潜在伴侣的遗传相关性信息，气味与视觉和声音线索的关系有多重要，以及基于气味的亲属识别是如何发展的。我还将(b)实验测试雌性是否可以利用羽毛上识别的特定挥发性化合物来评估潜在配偶的质量。我计划用日本鹌鹑（Coturnix japonica）作为模型物种。人们已经对它们的基本生物学有了大量的了解，最重要的是，它们拥有良好的嗅觉。众所周知，它们还患有严重的近亲繁殖抑郁症，因此进化出了根据遗传亲缘关系区分潜在配偶的能力；然而，它们使用的线索尚未被阐明。我将结合使用行为择偶分析和使用气相色谱-质谱（GC-MS）的羽毛气味分析来解决这些问题。这是一个全新的研究领域，有巨大的发现潜力，可能会彻底改变我们对鸟类行为的理解。

The aim of this research is to increase our understanding of the cues involved in mate assessment and selection. How and why animals choose particular individuals as mates and avoid others are fundamental questions in evolutionary biology. However, they commonly make mate-choice decisions that we can not explain with existing theory, and inconsistencies in mate preferences between individuals are frequent. One possible explanation is that animals are responding to sensory information to which humans are not receptive, and so have overlooked. I propose that the use of chemical information by birds may be a prominent example. Birds are known to have a sense of taste, but the traditional view that they are microsmatic (have a poor sense of smell) has precluded significant research into this area. However, there is now convincing evidence that birds not only have a functional olfactory system, but can also detect and respond to olfactory stimuli in their environment in order to find food, navigate and even to recognise conspecifics and individuals. Remarkably, however, whether birds use chemical cues to assess the quality and suitability of potential mates (as commonly occurs in other vertebrates) has never been tested experimentally. In an entirely novel set of experiments, I will (a) investigate whether an individual's odour profile (that is, the unique combination of chemicals that compose their body odour) can encode information on the genetic relatedness of potential mates, how important odour is in relation to visual and vocal cues and how odour-based kin recognition develops. I will also (b) experimentally test whether specific volatile compounds identified on the feathers can be used by females to assess the quality of potential mates. I plan to use Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) as a model species. A huge amount is already known about their basic biology and, crucially, they are known to posses a good sense of smell. They are also known to suffer from severe inbreeding depression, and so have evolved the ability to discriminate between potential mates on the basis of their genetic relatedness; however, the cues they use are yet to be elucidated. I will address these questions using a combination of behavioural mate-choice assays and feather-odour analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This is an entirely new field of research with enormous potential for discoveries that could revolutionise our understanding of avian behaviour.