H2020Индивидуална стипендия2019–2022

FrogsInSpace · From ecology to neurobiology: spatial cognition in rainforest frogs

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2019-07-20 → 2022-07-19
Финансиране от ЕС: 257 620 €
Участници: 2
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Способностите за ориентация при тропическите жаби показват дали разликите в навигацията между половете зависят от хормоните или от начина, по който търсят партньор. Това помага да се разбере как се развиват когнитивните умения и пространствената памет при животните.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

From ecology to neurobiology: spatial cognition in rainforest frogs

This project aims to better understand the evolution of spatial capabilities in animals and how sex and species differences in behaviour and cognitive abilities arise. Many animals, including humans, rely on their navigation skills to find food, shelter, or mates. In mammals, males tend to roam over larger areas, while females take care of the young and are more sedentary. Males also tend to have better spatial memory, and for decades, scientists have explained this as a necessity for males to navigate larger areas in search of mates. However, some researchers have recently suggested that sex differences in spatial abilities might be a side-effect of sex differences in testosterone levels independent of more extensive male movement range. These two hypotheses are difficult to test in mammals because they require studying species where females roam over larger areas than males, which is uncommon in mammals. Amphibians show a tremendous variation in reproductive strategies and parental roles, including species where males alone take care of offspring while females roam seeking mates. The exceptional variation in life history between closely related amphibian species allows us to test contrasting hypotheses about how navigation skills evolve and differ between sexes and species. We studied the spatial behaviour, cognition, and neurorendocrine mechanisms in poison frogs, a group of small rainforest frogs with complex parental behaviours and well-developed navigational abilities. The behavioural diversity of poison frogs enabled us to test if differences in male and female navigation skills are related to sex differences in movement patterns and reproductive strategies or if other factors, such as hormone levels, have a stronger influence. Our work has contributed to understanding how sex and species differences in behaviour arise. It also revealed the complexity of amphibian behavior and cognition while laying the foundations for future research on comparative vertebrate spatial cognition.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

The ability to navigate the environment has a profound impact on animal survival and reproductive success. Sex and species differences in spatial abilities are widespread, but understanding the mechanisms underlying variation in spatial cognition and how these differences arise through evolution remains challenging. I propose an interdisciplinary project aimed at understanding the sex and species differences in spatial cognition of tropical poison frogs from ecological, cognitive, neurobiological, and evolutionary perspectives. Poison frogs are ideal for understanding the evolution and neural mechanisms of vertebrate spatial cognition because sexes and closely related species show contrasting life histories and spatial behaviors. Specifically, species differ in whether females or males provide parental care to tadpoles and have larger home ranges. This offers a rare opportunity to link the sex and species differences in life history with differences in spatio-cognitive abilities at the behavioral and the neural levels. Recently, I have used tracking to study variation in frog space use, developed assays for quantifying navigational performance under natural conditions, and demonstrated that poison frogs rely on spatial memory for navigation. Building on this groundwork, I will collaborate with experts in behavioral neuroscience and movement ecology to (1) reveal sex and species differences in poison frog spatial cognition, (2) identify neural mechanisms governing sex differences in spatial cognition using cutting-edge neuroscience tools, and (3) integrate ecological, behavioral, and neural aspects of poison frog spatial behavior using modeling. FrogsInSpace is an ambitious yet realistic project that will establish a novel study system and integrate a broad range of expertise to address important questions in comparative cognition. It will be critical for my development as an expert working at the interface between animal ecology, cognition, and neurobiology.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisКоординаторФранция
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY · STANFORDСъединени щати