CAREER: Integrating contemporary evolution of animal communication in the field with science communication in our communities

University Of Denver, Denver CO

Investigators

Abstract

Many organisms communicate with one another using sounds, smells, colors, or behaviors. Communication between males and females is often required for reproduction, and mating communication differs between species, preventing mating between different species. When male mating characteristics change dramatically, types with and without a new signal can become reproductively isolated, particularly when the preferences of signal receivers (often females) change in step with the male signals. The researcher discovered a novel song type, 'purring', in long-studied populations of Pacific field crickets, Teleogryllus oceanicus. Male crickets produce songs using specialized wing structures to attract females and urge them to mate. The researcher capitalizes on this opportunity to understand the earliest stages of mating signal evolution by measuring and tracking the components of the new purring song. The new song is detectable to female crickets of the same species and to a parasitoid fly. Female parasitoid flies use song to locate host crickets and then deposit larvae on them that will burrow into and later eat their way out of the crickets' body. The researcher will thus also measure preferences of female crickets and flies and investigate both the evolutionary history and genomic basis of the new song. The researcher links the contemporary evolution of animal communication with science communication through a program (STEMComm) founded on increasing diversity and inclusion in science and on increasing the cross-cultural literacy of participants. STEMComm will improve undergraduate and graduate students' training in science communication while engaging underserved urban and native Hawaiian students with leading-edge research. The origins of evolutionary novelty remain elusive because of the inherent difficulty of catching novel trait evolution in action. The researcher discovered a new song ('purring') in Hawaiian populations of the Pacific field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus, that is increasing in frequency in multiple populations. The novel song differs from the typical one in characteristics used to identify conspecifics and preferred mates, and is detectable to females and an eavesdropping natural enemy. This discovery affords an opportunity to document the origin of a novel male trait and its consequences for signal-preference relationships and sexual isolation in real time. Ancestral signals and preferences are well-characterized, and the system is known for rapid evolution of communication, particularly in response to an acoustically orienting parasitoid fly. The researcher will track replicate populations that contain purring males for 20 generations, revealing how novel traits come to coevolve (or not) with the preferences and perceptual capabilities of intended and unintended receivers, and will probe the evolutionary history and genomic architecture of purring crickets. Combining field studies with modern genomic techniques will provide an integrative understanding of the why and how of evolutionary novelty. The project seamlessly integrates research and education through a new science communication program modeled after Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education, adapting the research for a non-specialist audience and enhancing diversity and inclusion in science. Participants will partner with K-12 teachers to co-develop publishable curricula and pilot activities in classrooms, a summer camp for minoritized girls, and a community outreach program in Hawaii. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.