Climate change and seasonal reproduction in mammals
Climate change and seasonal reproduction in mammals
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DOI：
10.1098/rstb.2009.0140
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发表时间：
2009-11-27
影响因子：
6.3
通讯作者：
Bronson, F. H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bronson, F. H.
季节性繁殖在所有纬度的哺乳动物中都很常见，即使在热带深处也是如此。本文（i）讨论了神经内分泌途径，通过这些途径，觅食条件和预测线索（如光周期）加强了季节性，（ii）考虑了哺乳动物在自然栖息地中实际面临的季节性挑战，（iii）使用由此产生的信息来表明季节性生殖可能会受到全球气候变化的影响。食物供应和环境温度决定能量平衡，能量平衡的变化是所有哺乳动物季节性繁殖的最终原因，也是许多哺乳动物季节性繁殖的近因。从高纬度到中热带地区的长寿哺乳动物中，光周期性暗示是很常见的。它在所有纬度的短命哺乳动物中都不太常见。一种未知的预测线索在下雨时触发了一些沙漠和干旱草原物种的繁殖。现有的信息表明，随着我们的气候变化，世界上的小型啮齿动物可能会很容易适应，但寿命较长的哺乳动物，其繁殖受光周期调节，可能不会做得那么好。我们的知识中的一个主要空白是关于热带地区;那里是大多数物种生活的地方，我们对环境因素如何调节繁殖的了解最少。
Seasonal reproduction is common among mammals at all latitudes, even in the deep tropics. This paper (i) discusses the neuroendocrine pathways via which foraging conditions and predictive cues such as photoperiod enforce seasonality, (ii) considers the kinds of seasonal challenges mammals actually face in natural habitats, and (iii) uses the information thus generated to suggest how seasonal reproduction might be influenced by global climate change. Food availability and ambient temperature determine energy balance, and variation in energy balance is the ultimate cause of seasonal breeding in all mammals and the proximate cause in many. Photoperiodic cueing is common among long-lived mammals from the highest latitudes down to the mid-tropics. It is much less common in shorter lived mammals at all latitudes. An unknown predictive cue triggers reproduction in some desert and dry grassland species when it rains. The available information suggests that as our climate changes the small rodents of the world may adapt rather easily but the longer lived mammals whose reproduction is regulated by photoperiod may not do so well. A major gap in our knowledge concerns the tropics; that is where most species live and where we have the least understanding of how reproduction is regulated by environmental factors.