Ground squirrel sociality: life history, communication and cognition

群居动物之间的交流协调了群体活动，提高了生存和繁殖的成功率。我的研究探索动物如何交流，由于编码、解码和处理信息而进化的认知能力，以及群体生活的社会方面如何影响生存和繁殖。为了了解促进社会性进化和维持的机制，我研究了广泛的动物物种，尽管我目前的建议主要集中在地栖松鼠上，因为它们数量丰富，便于合作，并且从非社会性到高度社会性的物种各不相同。我的学生和我将在我的实验室最近的发现的基础上进行实地研究，黑尾草原土拨鼠的波浪状跳声表演可以测试邻居的意识，以确定群体成员在不同方向上的反应变化是否提供了危险存在的信息。我们还将探讨跳跃和伴随的yip呼叫如何有助于个体从邻居那里提取信息。在理查森的地松鼠（RGS）身上进行类似的野外实验，将确定伴随着重复的警报叫声的尾巴抖动传递了什么信息，探索呼叫接受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是否经历了感知错觉。我们还将研究为什么RGS报警呼叫在音高和时间上变化如此之大，并确定超声波报警呼叫的功能。正在进行的研究将记录促进合作和发出警报的生理机制，以及将社会和捕食者引起的压力转化为后代数量和性别变化的生理机制。对富兰克林地松鼠的实地考察，将探索亲缘关系如何影响配偶选择、巢分散模式和空间使用，包括新发现的远距离巢迁移和幼鼠的收养，从而测试亲缘关系是否会促进裙带关系或近亲繁殖回避。总的来说，我的研究为社会性如何进化、沟通和认知能力如何促进社会合作以及社会压力如何促进导致生存和繁殖变异的生理变化提供了重要的见解。这项建议的研究有助于我们了解动物社会如何运作的基本知识，并有助于采取更平衡的方法来控制和保护害虫

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.**