Experimental evidence that age-specific reproductive success is independent of environmental effects
Experimental evidence that age-specific reproductive success is independent of environmental effects
复制标题
DOI：
10.1098/rspb.1999.0805
复制
发表时间：
1999-07-22
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Monaghan, P
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Daunt, F;Wanless, S;Monaghan, P
据报道，在许多年龄段的繁殖者中，繁殖性能有所改善。然而，这是由于不同年龄段之间能力的内在差异还是它们所经历的环境的外在差异的结果尚不清楚，因为一个季节内繁殖的时间通常也会随着年龄的不同而不同。为了解决这些影响，我们在实验中操纵了海狗Phalacrocorax aristotelis的繁殖时机。因此，在繁殖季节的早期和后期，年老的和年轻的个体都在同一时间饲养它们的幼崽。当在相同的环境条件下繁殖时，老对总是比年轻对表现得更好。这些数据清楚地表明，与年龄有关的生殖性能差异不是环境影响的结果，而是育儿能力内在差异的结果。
An age-specific improvement in reproductive performance has been reported in many iteroparous breeders. However, whether this is a consequence of intrinsic differences in competence amongst age classes or extrinsic differences in the environment they experience is unclear since the timing of breeding within a season generally also differs with age. To disentangle these effects, we experimentally manipulated the timing of breeding in shags, Phalacrocorax aristotelis. Old and young individuals thus reared their chicks at the same time both early and late in the breeding season. When breeding in the same environmental conditions, old pairs performed consistently better than young pairs. These data clearly demonstrate that the age-related differences in reproductive performance are not a result of environmental effects, but rather a consequence of intrinsic differences in brood rearing capacity.