Ground squirrel sociality: life history, communication and cognition

群体动物之间的交流协调群体活动，提高生存和繁殖成功。我的研究探索了动物是如何交流的，通过编码、解码和处理信息而进化出的认知能力，以及群体生活的社会方面如何影响生存和繁殖。为了了解有助于进化和维持社会性的机制，我研究了广泛的动物物种，尽管我目前的建议侧重于地面栖息的松鼠，因为它们数量丰富，便于与之共事，从非社会性物种到高度社会性物种都有所不同。我和我的学生们将在我的实验室最近发现的基础上进行实地研究，该发现是，黑尾草原土拨鼠的波浪式跳跃表演测试邻居的意识，以确定群体成员在不同方向反应的差异性是否提供了存在危险的地方的信息。我们还将探索该显示中的跳跃和伴随的yip-call如何有助于个人从邻居那里提取信息。在理查森的地面松鼠(RGS)上进行的类似现场实验将确定伴随着重复的警报呼叫而摆动尾巴传递的信息，探索呼叫接收者如何整合来自多个呼叫者的信息来跟踪捕食者的运动，并测试RGS是否经历感知错觉。我们还将调查为什么RGS警报呼叫在音调和时序上变化如此之大，并确定超声波警报呼叫的功能。正在进行的研究将记录促进合作和警报呼叫的生理机制，以及将社会和捕食者诱导的压力转化为后代数量和性别变化的机制。在富兰克林的地松鼠上的田野工作，将探索亲缘关系如何影响配偶选择、巢穴分散和空间使用的模式，包括新发现的远距离巢穴重新安置和收养幼崽，从而测试亲属识别是否促进裙带关系或近亲繁殖避免。 -- 总体而言，我的研究提供了重要的见解，包括社会性是如何演变的，沟通和认知能力如何有助于社会合作，以及社会压力如何促进生理变化，从而导致生存和生殖的变化。拟议的研究有助于我们了解动物社会是如何运作的，并有助于采取更平衡的方法控制和保护虫害。

Communication among group-living animals coordinates group activities, enhancing survival and reproductive success. My research explores how animals communicate, the cognitive abilities that have evolved as a result of encoding, decoding and processing information, and how social aspects of group living affect survival and reproduction. With the goal of understanding the mechanisms that contribute to the evolution and maintenance of sociality, I study a wide range of animal species, though my current proposal focuses on ground-dwelling squirrels because they are abundant, convenient to work with, and vary from asocial to highly social species. My students and I will perform field studies building on my lab's recent finding that wave-like jump-yip displays of black-tailed prairie dogs test neighbours' awareness to determine if variability in colony member's responses in different directions provides information about where danger exists. We will also explore how the jump and the accompanying yip-call within that display contribute to the information individuals extract from neighbours. Similar field experiments on Richardson's ground squirrels (RGS) will determine what information is conveyed by tail flicks accompanying repeated alarm calls, explore how call recipients integrate information from multiple callers to track predator movements, and test whether RGS experience perceptual illusions. We will also investigate why RGS alarm calls vary so extensively in pitch and timing, and determine the function of ultrasonic alarm calls. Ongoing research will document the physiological mechanisms that promote cooperation and alarm calling, and those that translate social and predator-induced stress into changes in the number and sex of offspring produced. Fieldwork on Franklin’s ground squirrels, will explore how relatedness affects mate choice, patterns of nest dispersion and space use, including newly discovered long-range nest relocations and adoptions of young, thus testing whether kin recognition promotes nepotism or inbreeding avoidance.   Overall my research provides important insights into how sociality evolved, how communication and cognitive abilities contribute to societal cooperation, and how societal pressures promote physiological changes that lead to variation in survival and reproduction. The proposed research contributes to our fundamental knowledge of how animal societies function, and to a more balanced approach to pest control and conservation.