Abstract DBI 9750160 Vladimir V. Pravoudov This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biosciences Related to the Environment for 1997. This fellowship provides an opportunity for the Fellow to gain additional scientific training beyond the doctoral degree and to pursue innovative and imaginative into the fundamental mechanisms underlying the interactions between organisms and their environment at the molecular, cellular, organismal, population, community and/or ecosystem level in any area of biology supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences of the National Science Foundation. Each fellowship supports a research and training plan to be carried out in a sponsoring laboratory. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Social environment and energy strategies in birds." In the temperate zone, many small birds must survive harsh winters characterized by low ambient temperatures and reduced food supplies. It has been hypothesized that food-caching birds use food-caches as an alternative to body fat storage, allowing them to maintain lower body mass. Most food-caching birds live in socially structured groups where dominants have priority access to food. This research investigates the impact of the social environment on optimal fattening and caching strategies in wintering caching birds. Both empirical and stochastic dynamic game modeling approaches are being used.
