Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Every individual has a history. What we do now depends upon our experiences months and years past. The same is presumably true of other organisms and with other organisms we have the opportunity to experimentally test what effects the past has on the present. Knowing an animal's history means measuring it through time. Though this is easy to do in the lab fundamental aspects of an organism's biology often cannot be studied in the lab, many organisms will not breed, neurological development may be impaired due to deficient stimuli and predator-prey interactions cannot be addressed. For wild birds this conundrum can be solved by housing them in very large outdoor aviaries that simulate a semi-natural setting, where they can breed and respond naturally, yet remain readily accessible. We are requesting funds to obtain four such aviaries. With this equipment, we will exploit our globally-unique ability to conduct the first ever experimental test of the effects of migration on reproduction, and without it, we cannot make further progress in our precedent-setting research on the developmental neurobiology of song learning and the effects fear of predation has on reproduction. Understanding how migration affects reproduction is essential to anticipate the impacts of climate change; avian song learning in many respects provides the best animal model of human language learning; and the fact that fear itself can affect population dynamics is revolutionizing ecology. We are an integrated team of seven highly active investigators from three universities (Western Ontario, Simon Fraser, Victoria) with complementary expertise in physiology, neurobiology, behaviour, life history and ecology; uniquely positioned to answer these and other critical questions thanks in part to the recent opening of the Advanced Facility for Avian Research (http://birds.uwo.ca). Over the next 5 years we expect 8 PDFs 10 PhDs and 15 MScs to make use of the requested equipment, all of whom will receive integrative training in physiological, neurobiological, behavioural and ecological research. The resulting cadre of highly qualified personnel will thus be provided with the diverse skill-set needed to succeed in an academic, government or private sector career.