Effects of carotenoid supply on escape flight responses in zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata
Effects of carotenoid supply on escape flight responses in zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata
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DOI：
10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.11.014
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发表时间：
2006-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Matheson, Stephanie M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Blount, Jonathan D.;Matheson, Stephanie M.
膳食类胡萝卜素在动物中发挥着多种重要作用，包括作为抗氧化剂、免疫刺激剂和负责性信号的色素。然而，由于觅食限制和/或利用时的生理权衡，类胡萝卜素的供应可能有限。对鸟类和鱼类的研究表明，雌性通常更喜欢与富含类胡萝卜素的雄性交配，这可能有助于确保获得更健康的伴侣。有证据表明，抗氧化和免疫防御可能受到类胡萝卜素可用性的限制，但我们仍然缺乏有关此类类胡萝卜素限制对健康的功能影响的信息，或行为水平上任何生理表现的衡量标准。我们测试了类胡萝卜素的可用性是否影响圈养雄性斑胸草雀的逃逸反应。鸟类被喂食对照或补充类胡萝卜素的饮食 8 周，然后测量受到惊吓刺激后从释放室中逃逸的反应。补充类胡萝卜素可增强飞行性能：补充类胡萝卜素的鸟类比对照组的飞行时间更短。此外，与对照组相比，补充类胡萝卜素的鸟类较少需要重复的惊吓刺激来引发逃逸，并且在惊吓刺激后更快地从释放室中出来。类胡萝卜素的这种作用可能具有重要的生态意义，因为飞行起飞性能被认为是捕食者躲避和觅食的重要决定因素，从而决定了生存概率和提供亲代照顾的能力。我们讨论各种假定的生理机制来解释类胡萝卜素如何影响飞行行为和表现。
Dietary carotenoids perform several important roles in animals including as antioxidants, immunostimulants and pigments responsible for sexual signals. However, carotenoids may be in limited supply because of foraging constraints and/or physiological trade-offs in their utilization. Studies of birds and fish have shown that females frequently prefer to mate with carotenoid-rich males, which may serve to ensure the acquisition of a healthier mate. Evidence suggests that antioxidant and immune defences can be constrained by carotenoid availability, but we still lack information about the functional consequences of such carotenoid limitation for health, or any measure of physiological performance at the behavioural level. We tested whether carotenoid availability influenced escape flight responses in captive male zebra finches. Birds were fed a control or carotenoid-supplemented diet for 8 weeks, before measurements of escape flight responses from a release chamber after a startle stimulus. Carotenoid supplementation enhanced flight performance: carotenoid-supplemented birds had shorter flight times than controls. In addition, compared to controls, carotenoid-supplemented birds less often required a repeat startle stimulus to elicit escape flight, and emerged sooner from the release chamber after a startle stimulus. Such effects of carotenoids could be ecologically important, since flight take-off performance is thought to be an important determinant of predator evasion and foraging, and thus of survival probability and the capacity to provide parental care. We discuss various putative physiological mechanisms to explain how carotenoids may influence flight behaviour and performance.