Parental consumption of nestling feces: good food or sound economics?
Parental consumption of nestling feces: good food or sound economics?
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DOI：
10.1093/beheco/2.1.69
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发表时间：
1991-03-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
McRae, Susan B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hurd, Peter L.;Weatherhead, Patrick J.;McRae, Susan B.
亲鸟一般在雏鸟还小的时候吃雏鸟的粪便，随着雏鸟的长大，它们会把粪便从巢中带走。这种行为的变化可能是因为随着雏鸟的消化系统变得更有效率，粪便的能量含量下降，或者是因为父母吃雏鸟粪便的成本随着所吃粪囊的数量和数量而增加。在树燕(Tachycineta Biolor)、红翼黑鸟(Agelaius Phoeniceus)和美洲知更鸟(Turdus Migratorius)中，父母吃的粪囊比例随着雏鸟的年龄增长而减少，尽管粪囊的能量密度随着雏鸟的年龄保持不变。随着雏鸟年龄的增长，粪囊大小的增加更好地解释了父母消费的下降，而不是能量含量。这些结果更好地支持了这样一种假设，即吃粪囊是将粪囊从巢中带走的一种经济选择，而且这样做并不是为了让父母将粪囊作为能量来源。不从巢中携带粪囊的好处可能是父母可以在巢中停留更长时间用于其他目的(例如，孵化)，并且他们避免了与粪囊处理相关的运输成本。了解粪囊消费的成本和收益可能会解释这种行为的性别差异和种间差异。《行为生态》1991；2：69-76]
Parent birds generally eat their nestlings' feces when the nestlings are young and carry the feces from the nest as the nestlings get older. This change in behavior may be due to the decline in energy content of the feces as the nestlings' digestive system becomes more efficient, or because the cost to the parent from eating nestling feces increases with the volume and number of fecal sacs eaten. In tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), and American robins ( Turdus migratorius), parents ate a smaller proportion of fecal sacs as their nestlings got older, even though the energy density of fecal sacs remained constant with nestling age. The increase in size of fecal sacs with nestling age explains the decline in parental consumption much better than does energy content. These results better support the hypothesis that eating fecal sacs is an economic alternative to carrying them from the nest and is not done so that parents use the sacs as a source of energy. The benefits of not carrying a fecal sac from the nest may be that parents can remain at the nest longer for other purposes ( e. g., brooding) and that they avoid the transportation costs associated with fecal sac disposal. Understanding the costs and benefits of fecal sac consumption may explain both intersexual and interspecific differences in this behavior. [Behav Ecol 1991; 2: 69-76]