How environmental variation shapes the relationship between cognition and signaling across North American Paridae

尽管动物们对生存和繁殖的关注很少，但它们使用一系列令人难以置信的信号来相互交流。在动物行为学领域，理解这种变异是一个基本问题。不出所料，大量研究调查了配偶选择中使用的信号，因为它们通常被夸大和显眼（例如，孔雀的尾巴）。这给我们留下了关于信号变化的知识空白，这些信号变化除了直接参与配偶选择之外。许多动物一生中只花很短的时间来繁殖，而在繁殖之外，它们关心的是生存，因此它们会就食物和捕食者的存在进行交流。繁殖季节之外的环境压力会影响个体在繁殖季节的行为，反之亦然。为了更全面地了解是什么驱动信号的变化，应该采取一种广泛的方法，将生态和信号物种的生活史结合起来。我的研究采用综合的方法来理解生态、认知和信号的相互作用。我感兴趣的是信号的变化是如何与空间认知的差异相关联的，这是非迁徙，食物储存鸟类生存所必需的。认知是个体获取、处理、保留和使用信息的能力，并与有效的资源获取和适应性有关。这在北美山雀中尤其如此，因为它们是依靠食物储存过冬的非候鸟。山雀在夏秋两季食物充足的时候会在它们的领地内储存成千上万的食物，以便在冬天食物匮乏的时候使用。这些鸟依靠专门的空间认知来恢复它们的贮藏物，在空间认知任务中表现更好的个体更有可能在冬季生存并进入繁殖季节。我的长期研究计划旨在了解环境变化如何影响认知和复杂交流之间的联系。北美山雀物种综合体为研究这些问题提供了一个绝佳的机会，因为它们都是高度交流的，全年使用多种类型的发声来交换信息，并且它们表现出先进的空间认知能力来恢复食物储存。我的研究计划的前5年将专注于识别黑顶山雀、卡罗莱纳山雀和山山雀使用的三种主要声学信号的地理差异驱动因素。这三种物种栖息在不同的栖息地，并在其分布的一小部分重叠，形成狭窄的杂交区。使用这种广泛的比较方法将允许我解决多个假设，旨在解释声信号的地理差异，并为理解信号和认知之间的关系提供基础。

Despite having an arguably small set of general concerns - to survive and reproduce - animals use an incredible array of signals to communicate with each other. Within the field of animal behavior, understanding such variation is a fundamental question. Unsurprisingly, a disproportionate amount of research has investigated signals used in mate choice, as they are often exaggerated and conspicuous (e.g., peacocks' tail). This has left gaps in our knowledge relating to signal variation outside those directly involved in mate choice. Many animals only spend a short period of their lives devoted to reproduction, while outside of breeding they are concerned with surviving, and as such communicate about the presence of food and predators. Environmental pressures outside the breeding season shape individuals' behavior during the breeding season, and vice versa. To gain a more complete understanding of what drives variation in signaling, a broad approach should be taken that incorporates the ecology and life history of the signaling species. My research employs an integrative approach to understand the interplay of ecology, cognition, and signaling. I am interested in how variation in signaling is associated with differences in spatial cognition, required for survival in non-migratory, food-storing birds. Cognition is an individual's ability to acquire, process, retain, and use information, and has been linked to efficient resource acquisition and fitness. This is particularly true in North American (NA) chickadees, as they are non-migratory birds that rely on food-stores to survive the winter. Chickadees stash hundreds-thousands of food items throughout their territories in the summer and fall when food is abundant, to use later in the winter when food is scarce. These birds rely on specialized spatial cognition to recover their caches, and individuals that perform better on a spatial cognitive task are more likely to survive the winter and into the breeding season. My long-term research program aims to understand how environmental variation shapes the association between cognition and complex communication. The NA chickadee species complex provides a prime opportunity to investigate these questions as they are both highly communicative, using multiple types of vocalizations to exchange information year-round and they exhibit advanced spatial cognitive abilities for recovering food-stores. The first 5 years of my research program will focus on identifying the drivers of geographic variation across the three primary acoustic signals used by black-capped, Carolina, and mountain chickadees. These three species inhabit diverse habitats and overlap in small parts of their distributions, creating narrow hybrid zones. Using this broad comparative approach will allow me to address multiple hypotheses purported to explain geographic variation in acoustic signals and provide the foundation for understanding the relationship between signaling and cognition.