The objectives of the research are to compare vocalizations in infant arvicoline rodents to determine how vocalizations relate to the social organization of the species, especially to parental behavior.
The specific aims are to determine whether the rate of vocalizing by isolated, cooled infants is correlated with the species-specific level of parental care in voles, to test the hypothesis that infants vocalize when isolated only due to an artefact of respiration--not from distress, and to test the hypothesis that there is a threshold of vocalization that elicits parental response. The results will indicate whether parental care is determined by the mating system is an animal model in which monogamy and polygamy are species-specific-and therefore inherited-traits. This has broad implications for human parental care and social systems. The objective will be carried out by counting the vocalizations of isolated and cooled infant voles of three species, by observing parental care in a seminatural arena, and by measuring the threshold of vocalization rate that elicits retrieval from the mother in a Y maze. The teaching objectives are to expose undergraduate students to the philosophy and techniques of science and to help them see the fascination of scientific research.
The specific aims are to have students comprehend the scientific method through bench research, to learn the skills needed for physiological and behavioral research, to embrace the view that science is a search for truth which can only be achieved through ethical conduct, and to understand that research on animals can be humane.
These aims will be achieved by guiding students through the processes of designing and carrying out experiments on animals, by analyzing and interpreting results, and by presenting their results orally and in writing to their peers and to the scientific world.
