Collaborative Research: Social Environment Effects on Hormones and the Integrated Behavioral Phenotype

合作研究：社会环境对激素和综合行为表型的影响

• 批准号: 1352885
• 负责人: Hubert Schwabl
• 金额: $ 24.5万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1352885&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Social; Environment; Effects

Animals must adjust their behaviors and other traits to a constantly changing social environment. For example, the strategies and the signals that individuals use to attract mates and breed often depend on an individual's social status relative to others in the population, and that status can fluctuate as group composition changes and/or other individuals change in rank. Accordingly, the hormonal and genetic mechanisms that underlie such behaviors and signals are likely to be sensitive to social conditions. Yet, we know relatively little about these mechanisms, particularly in wild populations living under natural conditions. This project will examine the mechanisms that allow for behavioral flexibility, and the ways that those mechanisms evolve, using Australian fairy-wrens (genus Malurus) as a model system. These study species are uniquely suited to this research because they show pronounced variation, across both individuals and populations, in the visual signals that individuals use to attract mates, and a great deal is known about the effects of hormones (particularly androgens like testosterone) on the development of these signals. This project will use a state-of-the-art semi-automated radio tracking system to continuously monitor social interactions among individuals to examine the effects of those interactions on hormones and gene expression in the brain, and use experimental manipulation of social conditions in the field to demonstrate the underlying causes. Comparisons across populations and across the sexes will be conducted, making this one of the first studies to examine the role and regulation of breeding signals in females. Overall, this research will contribute to a better understanding of the hormonal and genetic mechanisms that allow individuals to adjust to a constantly changing social environment. In addition this work will build capacity in Papua New Guinea, a richly biodiverse region of considerable conservation concern, through key partnerships and direct involvement of locals in research, educational outreach, and interchange activities. Public educational materials also will be created, including short videos presenting results from the research as well as the process of doing the research, for broad dissemination through proven and highly visited internet channels. Thus, this project will have broad impacts on both conservation and public understanding of science.A central goal of the animal behavior research agenda is to identify the role of androgens and other hormones in regulating expression of ornaments and associated reproductive behaviors, yet to date these roles remain unclear. One view, which has received relatively little attention from behavioral ecologists, is that androgens are phenotypic integrators that act to produce an adaptive multi-dimensional phenotype that is well suited to its social environment. This collaborative project will build on previous research with two sister species of Malurus fairy-wren that exhibit intraspecific variation in male and female ornamentation, making this system uniquely suited for examining these issues. The project consists of three inter-related studies that, together and synergistically, will address key questions regarding how androgens modulate expression of breeding signals and associated behaviors. First, high-density data on social interactions, collected from an automated telemetry array in conjunction with experimental manipulation of social environment, will be used to examine the role of social interactions and early-life conditions in regulating individual androgen levels and breeding phenotype. Second, a combination of observational, genomic and hormone manipulation approaches will be used to examine the extent to which androgens affect whole suites of characters to produce an integrated reproductive phenotype. Finally, hormone implant experiments and genomic analyses across the sexes and across two closely related species will reveal the degree of evolutionary constraint on hormonal mechanisms regulating ornament elaboration and behavior. By bridging the gap between the ways that behavioral ecologists and endocrinologists view hormones, this project will transform the ways that we view the role of hormones in regulating phenotypic integration and signaling.

动物必须将其行为和其他特征调整为不断变化的社会环境。例如，个人用来吸引伴侣和繁殖的策略和信号通常取决于个人相对于人口中其他人的社会地位，并且这种地位可能会随着群体组成的变化和/或其他个人的排名而变化。因此，基于此类行为和信号的荷尔蒙和遗传机制可能对社会条件敏感。但是，我们对这些机制的了解相对较少，尤其是在生活在自然条件下的野生人群中。该项目将检查允许行为灵活性的机制，以及使用澳大利亚童话般的沃伦（属）作为模型系统，这些机制的发展方式。这些研究物种非常适合这项研究，因为它们在个人和人群中表现出明显的变化，在个人用来吸引伴侣的视觉信号中，人们对激素（尤其是睾丸激素等激素（尤其是睾丸激素））对这些信号的发展的影响很大。该项目将使用最先进的半自动无线电跟踪系统来连续监测个体之间的社交相互作用，以检查这些相互作用对大脑中激素和基因表达的影响，并使用对现场社会条件的实验操纵来证明基本原因。将进行跨人群和性别之间的比较，这是研究女性中育种信号的作用和调节的最早研究之一。总体而言，这项研究将有助于更好地理解荷尔蒙和遗传机制，从而使个人适应不断变化的社会环境。此外，这项工作将在巴布亚新几内亚建立能力，巴布亚新几内亚是一个丰富的生物多样性地区，通过关键的伙伴关系和当地人直接参与研究，教育宣传和交换活动，这是一个丰富的生物多样性地区。还将创建公共教育材料，包括简短的视频，呈现研究的结果以及进行研究的过程，以通过经过验证和高度访问的互联网渠道进行广泛的传播。因此，该项目将对保护和公众对科学的理解产生广泛的影响。动物行为研究议程的核心目标是确定雄激素和其他激素在调节装饰品表达以及相关的生殖行为方面的作用，但至今这些角色仍然不清楚。一种观点受到行为生态学家的关注很少的观点是，雄激素是表型积分器，可产生适合其社会环境的自适应多维表型。这个合作项目将以先前的研究为基础，其中两种姐妹的玛鲁斯仙女夫人在男性和女性装饰中表现出种内变化，这使该系统非常适合检查这些问题。该项目由三项相互关联的研究组成，这些研究将共同​​解决有关雄激素如何调节育种信号和相关行为的表达的关键问题。首先，从自动遥测阵列中收集的有关社交互动的高密度数据与对社会环境的实验操纵结合使用，用于研究社会互动和早期生活条件在调节个体雄激素水平和繁殖表型中的作用。其次，将使用观测，基因组和激素操纵方法的组合来检查雄激素影响整个特征的套件以产生综合的生殖表型。最后，跨性别和两个密切相关的物种的激素植入实验和基因组分析将揭示调节装饰阐述和行为的激素机制的进化限制程度。通过弥合行为生态学家和内分泌学家查看激素的方式之间的差距，该项目将改变我们观察激素在调节表型整合和信号传导中的作用的方式。