Sensory Exploitation of Prey Escape Circuits

猎物逃生回路的感官利用

• 批准号: 0133874
• 负责人: Piotr Jablonski
• 金额: $ 36.02万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-03-15 至 2006-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0133874&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Sensory; Exploitation; Prey; Escape; Circuits; Sensory; Exploitation; Prey; Escape; Circuits

Sensory exploitation of prey escape circuitsOne of the mechanisms of natural selection that evolutionary biologists study is the "arms race" between predators and prey. Predators evolve various adaptations to capture the prey, and the prey species evolve more and more sophisticated ways to avoid being killed. Who wins this arms race? This proposal focuses on predator-prey relationship in which the predator, the Painted Redstart (Myioborus pictus), exploits properties of a simple pathway in the nervous system of its insect prey to win the race. Flies possess a specific cluster of neurons, the Giant Descending Neuron Cluster, which triggers an escape reflex when a conspicuous image of an approaching predator is expanding on the fly's retina. Such neural pathways and their properties have evolved millions of years ago, and undoubtedly before the evolution of fly-eating birds. This escape reaction is believed to be a general antipredatory adaptation against all sorts of predators. This research project will test the idea that the Painted Redstart is now exploiting the properties of this simple neural pathway in flies. Birdwatchers are well acquainted with the very conspicuous tail fanning and wing spreading employed by foraging redstarts to show off their white and black plumage pattern. The idea is that redstarts use these displays to activate the escape reflexes of flies and other insects making them easier for the birds to detect. Redstarts have specialized in capturing such escaping insects in mid-air. This research will consist of three components. First, a comparison of Painted Redstart's diet with the diets of several other insectivorous birds will show whether flies with well-developed Giant Descending Neuron Clusters are more common in the diet of redstarts than in the diet of other insect-eating birds that do not use this exploitative hunting technique. Second, electrophysiological studies of the neurons in the Giant Descending Neuron Cluster will be used to test whether these neurons are especially sensitive to the redstart's displays. Third, a field study of the foraging performance of redstarts with experimentally enlarged and reduced white patches will show whether the arrangement naturally present in redstarts is optimal for flushing their insect prey.

进化生物学家研究的自然选择机制的感觉剥削是捕食者与猎物之间的“军备竞赛”。捕食者进化了各种适应以捕获猎物，而猎物物种则进化了越来越复杂的方法来避免被杀死。谁赢得了这场武器比赛？该提案重点是捕食者的关系，在这种关系中，捕食者（Myioborus pictus）在其神经系统的昆虫猎物的神经系统中利用了一个简单途径的特性来赢得比赛。苍蝇具有特定的神经元簇，即巨大的降序神经元簇，当接近捕食者的明显图像在苍蝇的视网膜上扩展时，它会触发逃生反射。这种神经途径及其特性已经在数百万年前发展，毫无疑问是在进食鸟类的发展之前。据信这种逃生反应是对各种捕食者的一般反义适应。该研究项目将测试涂漆的Redstart现在正在利用这种简单神经途径的特性的想法。观鸟者非常熟悉非常引人注目的尾扇和翼传播，这是通过觅食Redstart来炫耀其白色和黑色羽状图案所使用的。这个想法是，Redstarts使用这些显示器来激活苍蝇和其他昆虫的逃生反射，使鸟类更容易检测到它们。 Redstart专门捕获在空中中间的这种逃避昆虫。这项研究将由三个组成部分组成。首先，将Redstart的饮食与其他几只昆虫鸟类的饮食进行比较，将表明与不使用这种剥削性狩猎技术的其他昆虫食性鸟类的饮食相比，在Redstarts的饮食中，是否具有发达的巨型降落神经元簇的苍蝇更常见。其次，对巨型降降神经元簇中神经元的电生理研究将用于测试这些神经元是否对Redstart显示器特别敏感。第三，通过实验性扩大和减少的白色斑块对Redstart的觅食性能进行的现场研究将表明，Redstarts中天然存在的布置是否最适合冲洗昆虫猎物。