| NSF Org: |
DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | July 14, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 14, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1710956 |
| Award Instrument: | Fellowship Award |
| Program Manager: |
Amanda Simcox
asimcox@nsf.gov (703)292-8165 DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | January 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | December 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $138,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $138,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
Las Cruces NM US 88012-6030 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
Boulder CO US 80309-0334 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | Broadening Participation of Gr |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
This is an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, under the program Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology. The fellow, Angela Medina-García, is conducting research and receiving training that is increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The fellow is being mentored by Rebecca Safran at the University of Colorado-Boulder. This project seeks to understand how social breeding impacts the evolution of wild animals' ability to acquire and use social information. The fellow will fill this gap in scientific knowledge by evaluating how birds (barn swallows) of different colony sizes acquire and use social information, and how these abilities help them reproduce. Animals need to constantly obtain and process environmental information to survive and reproduce. Many animals live in dense colonies, which requires them to pay attention to the actions of others and use this environmental information (i.e. social information) to increase their ability to successfully raise their young. The fellow is also providing invaluable research training to undergraduate students from underrepresented minorities. In addition, elementary and high school students from underrepresented groups are being engaged by observing swallow colonies while learning basic bird biology. The fellow is also developing exhibits at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, a bilingual website on avian cognition ('aviancognition'), and an interactive online program for reporting barn swallow colonies ('Swallow Tracker'), which involve students of all levels and help increase appreciation for birds and biological field research among the general public.
Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) breed either in solitary pairs or in colonies with multiple breeding pairs. Therefore, this species is an ideal system to make ecologically and phylogenetically controlled comparisons of cognitive traits among individuals of the same population with a varying degree of sociality. The impacts of social breeding on the evolution of cognitive traits will be tested along a sociality continuum, with the following objectives: 1) Measure individual variation in cognitive traits and reproductive success; 2) Test natal and environmental influences on cognitive traits. Naturally occurring anti-predator behaviors will be used to measure cognitive traits that reveal selective acquisition of social information. The adaptive value of cognitive traits will be evaluated by measuring reproductive success. The influences of natal and social environments on cognitive traits will be examined by conducting a partial cross-fostering experiment between social breeding groups of different sizes. Quantitative genetic models will be employed to estimate variance components due to both natal and rearing environments.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The goal of this project was to determine whether social breeding has played a role in the evolution of intelligence in animals. Animals that live in groups face very different challenges than those that live in solitary. For example, social animals can learn information from individuals in their group and make decisions based on this information.
The key research outcomes of this project are summarized below:
- Developed an effective test to determine how wild barn swallows use information from other individuals about the potential presence of a predator. This test is an indicator of how swallows perceive and process information, which is an aspect of their cognitive capacity or intelligence.
- Developed an effective test to determine how vigilant wild barn swallows are in response to the presence of a predator. This test is an indicator of how swallows make decisions, which is another aspect of their cognitive capacity.
- Performed the above tests in 90 adult barn swallows across breeding groups of different sizes, ranging from 1 to 33 breeding pairs.
- Identified effective tests to determine how barn swallow nestlings: 1) use information from other individuals about the potential presence of a predator; 2) how vigilant they are in response to the presence of a predator; and 3) how they learn to associate between a certain cue and the presence of a predator.
Some background information necessary to understand the results from this study is that barn swallows mob predators as a group, and not all individuals in the group necessarily actively do the mobbing every time a predator is present.
Key results: We found that barn swallows that breed in large groups respond less strongly to the information from others about the presence of predators and are less vigilant. This can be explained by the fact that swallows that are part of a group are able to rely on other birds to mob predators, and are less concerned about the risk of a predator attacking their nest, compared to barn swallows that nest in solitary, who rely only in their own ability to mob the predator and defend their nest.
These results tell us that in fact, breeding in a group, influences how barn swallows use information from other individuals and how vigilant they are. Such findings are key in revealing the importance of social living on how intelligence has evolved in animals.
The key broader impact outcomes of this project are summarized below:
- The PI, Medina-Garcia, mentored and trained in field techniques six undergraduate students, four of them identify as women, and two students belong to underrepresented minorities in biology.
- The PI developed the bilingual website (English and Spanish) www.aviancogntion.com. This website teaches the general public about past research on cognitive abilities of birds.
- The PI participated in the program Girls at the Museum Exploring Science (GAMES), by the CU Boulder Museum of Natural History. This program, now in its 15th year, has targeted 4th-8thgrade girls who identify as Latina. This summer, 11 students joined Medina-Garcia and her mentees in the field to experience a day as a field researcher.
- 17 observers around North America and Europe entered a total of 42 observations of barn swallow colonies in the Swallow Tracker project (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/swallow-tracker), created by the PI to track barn swallow colonies.
Last Modified: 03/03/2020
Modified by: Angela Medina-Garcia
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
