Project description
Spatial cognition in invasive cane toads
Biological invasions are among the major drivers of biodiversity decline. Although prevention measures can reduce the rate of new invasions, it is important to understand the cognitive and neural traits associated with invasive spread. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ChangingToads project aims to understand how invasions across time have shaped cognitive traits in Australia’s cane toads, and how these evolved features may facilitate further invasions. Using biologging, displacement studies, whole-brain imaging and micro-CT scanning, the project will conduct comparative analyses between invasion-front and core populations to measure navigational competence, brain activity and brain morphology across different phases of dispersal.
Objective
Invasive species threaten ecosystems around the world. In fighting to protect local flora and fauna, scientists typically focus on research about preventative measures. However, cognitive functions that aid invaders in exploiting novel environments, such as spatial memory, mostly go unstudied. Spatial behaviors are of special interest to understanding how invasive species disperse, as movement and navigation affect the area that species can exploit and determine the range they ultimately occupy. To fill this gap, I will take an integrative approach that combines behavioral observations generated through cutting-edge biologging (use of wearable devices to record information about movement) with state-of-the-art lab-based characterizations of neural function and structure. I will study how invasion has affected the evolution of a well-known invasive amphibian in Australia, the cane toad (Rhinella marina). Specifically, I will: (a) investigate how navigation abilities differ between toads from the vanguard (invasion-front) as compared to those that have been longer established (invasion core) using translocation-homing experiments in the wild; (b) compare whole-brain activity between navigating, exploring, and dispersing toads to understand how brain regions support spatial cognition using whole-mount immunolabeling and 3D imaging; and (c) determine if selective pressures from invasion have caused shifts in brain structure by using microCT scans and isotropic fractionation to characterize regional volume and neuron density across toad populations. This project will be the first to investigate how selection has shaped cognitive traits that facilitate invasion, including neural substrates that underlie invasion success, leveraging the massive unplanned “natural experiment” created by cane toad invasion. In addition, this work will fill in a major blind spot in the understanding of vertebrate spatial cognition created by lack of knowledge of amphibian neural function.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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1210 Wien
Austria
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