Nests as ornaments: revealing construction by male sticklebacks
Nests as ornaments: revealing construction by male sticklebacks
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DOI：
10.1093/beheco/12.4.390
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发表时间：
2001-07-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Huntingford, FA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Barber, I;Nairn, D;Huntingford, FA
鸟巢是由来自各种分类群的动物建造的，作为卵和发育中的后代的容器。如果巢是单独或主要由一种性别建造的，它们也有可能成为延伸的装饰品，因为建造的各个方面可能会向未来的配偶揭示或放大建造者的特征。在这里，我们开发了新的指标来量化巢结构，并检查与雄性三刺刺鱼的形态、免疫学和生理特征有关的巢结构的时间和结构方面的变化。野生捕获的雄性刺鱼在被转移到实验室后的3天内开始施工，它们建造的巢比花了更长时间的鱼建造的巢更整洁，我们提出了另一种可检验的假说来解释这种模式。筑巢雄鸟的各种特征与筑巢结构有关。雄性筑巢雄鸟肾脏的相对重量--它分泌一种用于筑巢的胶状蛋白质，其发育依赖于雄激素--与筑巢的“整洁”呈正相关。我们还发现，脾增大的雄性(免疫应激的指标)建造的巢不那么“紧凑”。因此，鸟巢的结构可能不仅在确定其功能容量方面很重要，而且还可能作为一种揭示质量的装饰品。我们认为，雌性可以从巢检查中获得关于雄性健康状况和雄激素水平的有价值的信息。
Nests are built by animals from a variety of taxa, and serve as receptacles for eggs and developing offspring. Where nests are built solely or mainly by one sex, they also have the potential to serve as extended ornaments, because aspects of construction potentially reveal or amplify characteristics of the builder to prospective mates. Here, we develop novel indices to quantify nest structure and examine variation in temporal and structural aspects of nest construction in relation to morphological, immunological, and physiological traits in male three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Wild-caught male sticklebacks that began construction within 3 days of being transferred to the laboratory built "neater" nests than fish that took longer to start, and we present alternative testable hypotheses that could explain this pattern. Various characteristics of nest-building males correlated with nest structure. The relative weight of the building male's kidney-which secretes a glue-like protein used in nest building and whose development is androgen-dependent-correlated positively with nest "neatness." We also found males with enlarged spleens tan indicator of immune stress) to construct less "compact" nests. The structure of a nest may therefore be important not only in determining its functional capacity, but may also act as a quality-revealing ornament. We suggest that females may gain valuable information regarding male health status and androgen levels from nest inspection.