DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Seasonal Influences on Sleep Flexibility in the House Sparrow, Passer Domesticus

论文研究：季节对家麻雀睡眠灵活性的影响

• 批准号: 0608262
• 负责人: Michaela Hau
• 金额: $ 1.15万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-05-01 至 2008-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0608262&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Seasonal; Influences; Sleep

Intellectual Merit: Why do we need sleep? The sleep-wake cycle is perhaps the most important biological rhythm in the animal kingdom, yet there exists no good explanation for its function. To date, most studies of animal sleep have been conducted on mammals in the laboratory. The proposed research will serve to examine wild sleep behavior in the House Sparrow. Birds are ideal models for studying the adaptive nature of sleep because of their strong seasonal behaviors (e.g. breeding) and overall sensitivity to local environmental changes. Examining how sleep-wake patterns and nighttime sleep characteristics change in response to seasonal variation in ecological factors such as temperature, daylight, and predation pressure, and in seasonal variation in behaviors such as foraging and aggression, will reveal which factors impact sleep the most. Identifying these external influences and the sleep characteristics that change in response will provide great insight into sleeps function. The proposed research is designed to explore the function of sleep by: 1) developing a non-surgical method of measuring sleep in small vertebrates, 2) examining the priority assigned to sleep by measuring sleep behavior and rest-activity patterns during each season of the year, and 3) establishing direct causal relationships between daytime behaviors and nighttime sleep characteristics. This study will: a) ask questions about sleep in an ecological context, b) utilize non-invasive measures to examine sleep in small vertebrates, and c) examine sleep behavior in wild animals. Broader Impacts: This research involves the exploration of a fundamental yet unanswered question in biology. While we know that a certain amount of sleep is necessary, the exact function of this state remains unknown. Improvement in the quality and quantity of sleep in the human population at large requires the understanding of sleeps function. The broader impacts of this research also lie in the development of non-invasive methods that will expand the field of sleep research to investigators who were previously excluded due to the cost of electroencephalograph (EEG) equipment and the surgical skills required for EEG implantation in small animals. Further, this work will disseminate knowledge of sleep to the general public, as the field site is located next to a local convenience store where interactions with curious bystanders occur daily. Finally, this work will train young, scientific minds. As House Sparrows occupy the field site year round, it will be used as a place to train undergraduate students in basic behavioral observation techniques as part of Princeton Universitys Animal Behavior course. In addition, the two-year duration of this project will permit at least two undergraduate students per year to devise corollary projects investigating bird sleep for their senior theses.

知识分子优点：为什么我们需要睡觉？ 睡眠效果周期也许是动物界最重要的生物节奏，但对其功能没有很好的解释。 迄今为止，大多数动物睡眠研究都是对实验室的哺乳动物进行的。拟议的研究将有助于检查房屋麻雀中的野生睡眠行为。 鸟类是研究睡眠适应性的理想模型，因为它们的季节性行为强（例如繁殖）和对局部环境变化的整体敏感性。 检查睡眠效果模式和夜间睡眠特征如何响应于温度，日光和捕食压力等生态因素的季节性变化以及诸如觅食和侵略等行为的季节变化的季节性变化，将揭示哪些因素对睡眠影响最大。 确定这些外部影响和反应变化的睡眠特征将为睡眠功能提供深刻的见解。 拟议的研究旨在通过以下方式探索睡眠的功能：1）开发一种未手术的方法，用于测量小脊椎动物的睡眠方法，2）检查一年中每个季节的睡眠行为和静止效果模式，检查分配给睡眠的优先级。这项研究将：a）在生态环境中提出有关睡眠的问题，b）利用非侵入性措施检查小脊椎动物的睡眠，c）检查野生动物的睡眠行为。 更广泛的影响：这项研究涉及对生物学中基本但未解决的问题的探索。 尽管我们知道需要一定程度的睡眠，但该状态的确切功能仍然未知。 人口总体上的睡眠质量和数量的改善需要了解睡眠功能。 这项研究的更广泛的影响还在于开发非侵入性方法，这些方法将使睡眠研究领域扩大到由于脑电图（EEG）设备（EEG）设备的成本以及小动物中EEG植入所需的外科手术技能而被排除的研究者。 此外，这项工作将把睡眠知识传播给公众，因为现场站点位于当地便利店旁边，每天都会与好奇的旁观者进行互动。 最后，这项工作将训练年轻的科学思想。 随着房屋麻雀全年占据现场现场，它将被用作培训本科生基本行为观察技术的场所，作为普林斯顿大学动物行为课程的一部分。 此外，该项目的两年持续时间将允许每年至少两名本科生设计为高级论文调查鸟睡眠的推论项目。