STALK-EYED FLIES AS MODEL SYSTEM FOR RIVAL SIZE ASSESSMENT

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 攻击性是整个动物界社会行为中无处不在的组成部分。在攻击性互动中交换的信号具有非常重要的功能，因为它们在确定社会地位和调节资源获取方面发挥了作用。体型关系对具有侵略性的比赛有很大影响。许多咄咄逼人的信号可能会起到宣传规模的作用，而对竞争对手规模的评估似乎在管理激进比赛的过程和结果方面发挥了重要作用。允许进行这种评估的神经、感觉、遗传和认知机制在很大程度上仍未被探索。为了理解攻击性信号的进化和功能，必须阐明这些机制。柄眼苍蝇表现出形态特化、战斗仪式和视觉能力，这表明在研究竞争对手大小的视觉调节机制方面有不同寻常的前景。目前建议的目标是建立一个研究竞争对手大小评估的模型系统，方法是：(A)测试是否在比赛中评估竞争对手的大小；(B)检查在竞争序列的哪个或哪些阶段进行这种评估；以及(C)比较眼柄和攻击性武器在竞争对手评估中的重要性。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Aggression is a ubiquitous component of social behavior across the animal kingdom. The signals exchanged in aggressive interactions are a great functional importance due to their role in determining social status and in mediating access to resources. Size relationships exert a strong influence on aggressive contests. Many aggressive signals may function to advertise size, and the assessment of rival size appears to play an important role in governing the course and the outcome of aggressive contests. The neural, sensory, genetic and cognitive mechanisms that permit such assessments to be performed remain largely unexplored. These mechanisms are important to elucidate in order to understand the evolution and function of aggressive signals. Stalk-eyed flies exhibit morphological specializations, combat rituals, and visual capabilities that indicate an unusually promising system for the study of visually mediated mechanisms of rival size assessment. The goal of the current proposal is to establish stalk-eyed flies as a model system for the study of rival size assessment by (a) testing whether rival size is assessed in contests, (b) examining at what stage or stages in the agonistic sequence this assessment is made, and (c) comparing the importance of eye stalks versus the offensive weapon in rival assessment.