Food availability affects strength of seasonal territorial behaviour in a cooperatively breeding bird
Food availability affects strength of seasonal territorial behaviour in a cooperatively breeding bird
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DOI：
10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.11.034
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发表时间：
2012-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Radford, A. N.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Golabek, K. A.;Ridley, A. R.;Radford, A. N.
领地行为的季节性模式在许多物种中很常见，并且通常归因于在繁殖季节增强防御或向潜在竞争对手或配偶提供信息的适应性益处。然而，由于防御行为可能会耗费大量时间和精力，因此另一种可能性是，非繁殖季节的减少是食物供应量减少的结果。我们研究了花鹛（Turdoides bicolor）的领地性，这是一种合作繁殖的鸟类，可以保卫永久领地。与繁殖季节相比，在非繁殖期，群体与竞争对手的互动较少，对实验模拟的邻居入侵的反应也较弱。非繁殖季节的觅食效率和生物量摄入量显着降低，导致鸟类在一年中的这个时候体重明显减轻。最后，非繁殖季节的喂养实验表明，给予补充食物的群体显着增强了对模拟领地入侵的反应。这些结果表明，非繁殖季节领土行为的减少可能至少部分归因于食物供应的减少。我们建议，未来关于领地行为季节性变化的研究，特别是那些研究两个或多个个体联合防御的物种的研究，应该考虑到这种潜在的限制。 2012 动物行为研究协会。由爱思唯尔有限公司出版
Seasonal patterns in territorial behaviour are common in many species, and are often attributed to the adaptive benefits of increased defence or the provision of information to potential competitors or mates during the breeding season. However, because defence behaviour is likely to be costly in terms of time and energy, an alternative possibility is that decreases in the nonbreeding season are a consequence of reduced food availability. We studied territoriality in the pied babbler, Turdoides bicolor, a cooperatively breeding bird species that defends permanent territories. Groups interacted with rivals less and responded less strongly to an experimentally simulated intrusion of neighbours in nonbreeding periods compared to the breeding season. Foraging efficiency and biomass intake were significantly lower in the nonbreeding season, which resulted in birds being significantly lighter at this time of year. Finally, a feeding experiment in the nonbreeding season showed that groups given supplementary food significantly increased their response to a simulated territorial intrusion. These results indicate that the reduction in territorial behaviour during the nonbreeding season may be attributed, at least in part, to a reduction in food availability. We suggest that future studies on seasonal variation in territorial behaviour, especially those investigating species in which two or more individuals combine their defence, should take this potential constraint into account. 2012 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd.