One of the greatest puzzles remaining for evolutionary biology is to understand the evolution of animal behaviors. Particularly, the evolution of plasticity in mating behaviors is, at once, the most commonly- documented and the least understood phenomenon. Whereas growing number of observations show that individuals can modify their behaviors adaptively in even the rarest of environmental circumstances, current theory shows that the evolution of such plasticity, especially in rare and unpredictable environments, is unlikely. The resolution of this paradox requires a novel integration of genetic, physiological, and behavioral approaches to a natural system where plasticity in behavior is well established. The proposed research program will be the first to explicitly integrate these diverse approaches in an experimental study of evolution of plastic and reversible mating tactics in natural populations of birds.
The principal investigator proposes integrative research and educational opportunities that will take advantage of distinct parental behaviors observed in the most common of the backyard birds in the North America - the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus). Males of this species either provide or withhold parental care depending on the elaboration of their sexual ornamentation. Because males molt into a new plumage every year and live for several years, the same individual can show different parental strategies at different times of his life, thus offering a unique opportunity to examine evolution of plasticity in behavior. The central goal of the proposed work is to elucidate the links between ecology, physiology, genetics, and behavior in order to understand how parental behaviors become connected with sexual ornamentation in response to environmental cues throughout a male's lifetime. The explicit aim of this research program is to utilize this well-established natural phenomena to provide the long-term educational and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Arizona and University of Montana to prepare them for independent and innovative research at the at the forefront of current approaches in biological sciences.
Research sites for the proposed study are on the campuses of universities and in urban areas and provide an abundant opportunity for training high school students, school teachers, and for general public outreach. High visibility and active public participation thus far facilitated wide dissemination of scientific research and discoveries through established media contacts, from local newspapers to national television networks. Moreover, close relationships built with scientific outreach programs of local schools will provide further opportunities for the recruitment of students for future undergraduate and graduate education. Ultimately this work will provide significant new insights into our understanding how behavioral plasticity evolves. More generally, these data will increase our understanding of the processes that enable rare and novel behaviors to appear, persist, and spread in animal populations.
