Some strains of Lymnaea are smarter than others: why and what are the consequences.

动物每天都在使用认知(这里的定义是学习和随后的记忆形成)。然而，一些菌株的记忆力要比其他菌株好得多。也就是说，同一物种的某些动物比其他动物“更聪明”。这在预测动物将如何应对环境变化方面可能非常重要。我们已经证明，池塘蜗牛是第一个在自然种群中发现记忆形成显著差异的无脊椎动物物种，这为研究认知进化提供了一个令人兴奋的机会和新的模式系统。我的研究使用了实验室开发的神经生物学和行为学技术，使我处于一个独特的位置，可以阐明影响自然人口认知差异的因素，并阐明认知在对环境变化的反应中所起的作用。动物根据环境改变行为的能力使它们能够适应捕食者威胁(包括新引入的物种)、食物可获得性或食物质量的变化，并记住可能改变社会地位或交配偏好的同种互动，所有这些都将直接影响动物的“健康”。因此，应该总是选择增强记忆过去经验的能力，这似乎是直觉的；然而，记忆能力也可能带来精力上的代价，这可能会超过记忆环境各方面所获得的好处。我们提出的研究将阐明限制认知进化的因素，目前认知是心理学、神经生物学和行为科学中一个有争议的领域，并提供第一个直接证据，证明认知在允许物种适应新环境中所起的作用。

Animals use cognition (defined here as learning and the subsequent formation of memory) on a daily basis. However, some strains remember much better than others. That is, some animals of the same species are 'smarter' than others. This may be very important in predicting how animals will respond to environmental changes. We have demonstrated that the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, is the first invertebrate species found with significant differences in memory formation amongst natural populations, providing an exciting opportunity and a new model system to study cognitive evolution. My research using neurobiological and behavioural techniques developed in my lab places me in a unique position to elucidate factors shaping cognitive variation in natural populations and elucidate the role cognition plays in responses to environmental change. The ability of animals to alter behaviour in response to their environment enables them to adapt to changes in predator threat (including new introduced species), food availability or food quality and remember conspecific interactions that may alter social status or mate preference, all of which will directly affect an animal's 'fitness'. Hence, it seems intuitive that an enhanced ability to remember past experience should always be selected for; however, the ability to remember may also carry energetic costs that could outweigh the benefits gained from remembering aspects of the environment. Our proposed studies will elucidate the factors that limit the evolution of cognition, currently an area of debate in psychology, neurobiology and behavioural science, and provide the first direct evidence of the role cognition plays in allowing a species to adapt to novel environments.