Collaborative Research: Mechanisms of Color Perception in Wild Hummingbirds

合作研究：野生蜂鸟的颜色感知机制

• 批准号: 2029528
• 负责人: Noah Whiteman
• 金额: $ 32.5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2029528&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Mechanisms; Color; Perception

Birds have excellent color vision, relative to humans. Humans have three color cone types in their eyes, sensitive to blue, green and red light, respectively. Birds have these three cones plus a fourth which is sensitive to ultraviolet light. Because of this it has long been unclear how avian color perception works. To answer this question, it is critical to study birds in their natural habitats. This research program will investigate mechanisms of color vision in wild hummingbirds, which rely on color for foraging and courtship. The investigators will perform detailed color-learning experiments in the field, combined with physiological and genomic studies, to understand how hummingbirds use color perception in their daily lives. This will provide new opportunities for testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses about pollination, mate choice and plumage coloration. Because tetrachromacy (four color cone types) developed in early vertebrates (and exists in birds, many fish and reptiles), uncovering the details of hummingbird color vision will provide a deeper understanding of color vision in many animals. Overall, this work will contribute broadly to the fields of learning and memory, neurobiology, human color vision, colorblindness and vision-related diseases. Hummingbirds are also of great ecological importance as critical pollinators and bioindicators of environmental health, and this research will provide insights into how they perceive the world. The researchers will design in-depth educational programs for middle school students, to be held at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, in schools and at natural history museums. In addition, the researchers will convene a workshop highlighting recent breakthroughs in hummingbird research and conservation. This integrative study will improve our understanding of avian color vision. Birds have an ancient and sophisticated color vision system, which they use to find food, identify mates and navigate through complex landscapes. In recent years, detailed psychophysical experiments in laboratories have yielded important insights into the mechanisms of color vision in birds. However, laboratory experiments often lack ecological context and reveal little about how individuals in a population may vary in color perception and cognition. As a result, we have a limited understanding of how birds use and process color information in the natural world. This project investigates mechanisms of color perception/cognition in wild, free-living hummingbirds at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado and the surrounding area. This research program has four main aims. First, the investigators will test standard models of avian color vision using field-based behavioral experiments. Second, they will design ecologically relevant experiments that account for colors hummingbirds experience often in the context of foraging and courtship. Third, they will determine the physiological mechanisms responsible for color vision in hummingbirds. Fourth, they will explore the genetic and genomic mechanisms underpinning color vision, particularly with respect to the genes for ultraviolet- and shortwave-sensitivity. Hummingbirds provide a compelling study system because they forage from diverse plant species with colorful floral displays and, consequently, can quickly learn and remember different colors. Using advanced psychophysical tools and RFID technology, combined with physiological and genomic analyses, this project will provide a mechanistic picture of how color perception works in wild hummingbirds.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

相对于人类，鸟类具有出色的色彩视觉。人类的眼睛中有三种彩色锥类型，分别对蓝色，绿色和红光敏感。鸟类有这三个锥体以及对紫外线敏感的第四个锥体。因此，长期以来一直不清楚鸟类色彩感知如何起作用。要回答这个问题，在自然栖息地研究鸟类至关重要。该研究计划将调查野生鸟类色觉的机制，这些机制依赖于觅食和求爱的颜色。研究人员将在该领域进行详细的颜色学习实验，并结合生理和基因组研究，以了解蜂鸟如何在日常生活中使用颜色感知。这将为测试有关授粉，伴侣选择和羽毛色的生态和进化假设提供新的机会。由于在早期脊椎动物（鸟类，许多鱼类和爬行动物）中开发的四含量（四种彩色锥类型），因此发现蜂鸟色觉的细节将为许多动物的色觉提供更深入的了解。总体而言，这项工作将在学习和记忆，神经生物学，人类色觉，色盲和与视觉相关的疾病的领域广泛贡献。 作为关键的授粉媒介和环境健康的生物指导者，蜂鸟也非常重要，这项研究将提供有关它们如何看待世界的见解。研究人员将为中学生设计深入的教育计划，将在落基山生物实验室，学校和自然历史博物馆举行。此外，研究人员将召开一个研讨会，重点介绍了最近的蜂鸟研究和保护方面的突破。 这项综合研究将提高我们对鸟类色觉的理解。鸟类具有古老而复杂的色觉系统，他们用来寻找食物，识别伴侣并在复杂的景观中导航。近年来，实验室中的详细心理物理实验对鸟类色觉的机制产生了重要的见解。但是，实验室实验通常缺乏生态环境，几乎没有透露人群中的个人在颜色感知和认知方面的变化。结果，我们对鸟类在自然世界中如何使用和处理颜色信息的了解有限。该项目调查了科罗拉多州落基山生物实验室及其周边地区的野生，自由生活的蜂鸟的颜色感知/认知机制。该研究计划具有四个主要目标。首先，研究人员将使用基于现场的行为实验测试禽色觉的标准模型。其次，他们将设计与生态相关的实验，这些实验通常是在觅食和求爱的背景下经常出现蜂鸟体验的。第三，他们将确定负责蜂鸟色觉的生理机制。第四，他们将探索彩色视觉支撑的遗传和基因组机制，尤其是在紫外线和短波敏感性的基因方面。蜂鸟提供了一个引人入胜的研究系统，因为它们从具有色彩鲜艳的花卉展示的各种植物物种中觅食，因此可以快速学习和记住不同的颜色。该项目使用先进的心理物理工具和RFID技术，再加上生理和基因组分析，将提供机械的形象，说明颜色感知如何在野生蜂鸟中起作用。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的评估来通过评估来提供支持的。