Construction patterns of birds' nests provide insight into nest-building behaviours
Construction patterns of birds' nests provide insight into nest-building behaviours
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DOI：
10.7717/peerj.3010
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发表时间：
2017-02-28
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Deeming, D. Charles
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Biddle, Lucia;Goodman, Adrian M.;Deeming, D. Charles
先前的研究表明，鸟类和哺乳动物根据其热或结构特性来选择筑巢所需的材料，尽管只有极少数物种记录了所用材料的数量或特性。巢穴建造背后的一些行为可以通过仔细解构结构和测量所用材料的生物力学特性来间接确定。在这里，我们通过对红腹灰雀（Pyrrula pyrrula）巢穴的研究来检验这一想法，作为构建“树枝”巢穴的开放式筑巢鸣禽物种的模型，并检验了巢穴不同部分的材料具有不同功能的假设。在进行结构分析之前，记录巢底部、侧面和杯中存在的材料的数量。结构分析表明，与侧壁相比，外巢的底部由明显更厚、更坚固和更坚硬的材料组成，而侧壁又比杯子中使用的材料明显更厚、更坚固和更坚硬。这些结果表明，巢中特定材料的放置可能不是随机的，但需要进一步的工作来确定巢的最终结构是否准确地反映了建造过程。
Previous studies have suggested that birds and mammals select materials needed for nest building based on their thermal or structural properties, although the amounts or properties of the materials used have been recorded for only a very small number of species. Some of the behaviours underlying the construction of nests can be indirectly determined by careful deconstruction of the structure and measurement of the biomechanical properties of the materials used. Here we examined this idea in an investigation of Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) nests as a model for open-nesting songbird species that construct a "twig" nest, and tested the hypothesis that materials in different parts of nests serve different functions. The quantities of materials present in the nest base, sides and cup were recorded before structural analysis. Structural analysis showed that the base of the outer nests were composed of significantly thicker, stronger and more rigid materials compared to the side walls, which in turn were significantly thicker, stronger and more rigid than materials used in the cup. These results suggest that the placement of particular materials in nests may not be random, but further work is required to determine if the final structure of a nest accurately reflects the construction process.