Metabolic Rates and Parental Feeding of Male and Female Nestlings

Gowaty博士发现性别会影响互动 之间的成年人（假定的父母）和雏鸟东部 蓝知更鸟：父亲喂女儿比他们更频繁。 喂养他们的儿子。 这是因为女儿的精力 要求比儿子？ Gowaty博士将测试这个假设 女儿比儿子需要更多的能量才能长到同样的大小 和重量。 性别偏见的喂养发生在那些鸟类中， 性别的相互作用已经探讨，但近 尚未对这种性别影响的原因进行评估。 东部 蓝知更鸟提供了一个有效的研究机会， 影响，因为雏鸟蓝知更鸟（不像其他物种）可以 根据主翼的颜色来区分性别 羽毛，因为关于父母和雏鸟如何互动的数据 可以通过在巢箱内拍摄而容易地收集。 双标记水方法是一种成熟的技术 用于测量野生动物的代谢率。 博士 Gowaty将使用这项技术来评估代谢率， 儿子和女儿在不同年龄的整个雏鸟生活。 如果 女儿的代谢率并不比儿子高， 为什么父亲给女儿的食物比给女儿的多？ 儿子们需要进一步调查 这个研究项目的结果将是重要的，如果只有 因为这是第一次尝试测量代谢差异 野生鸟类的儿子和女儿， 关键是要了解鸟类的父母照顾模式， 父母 儿子和女儿的新陈代谢是否不同 率，答案将有助于阐明因果关系 和控制鸟类的父母照顾。

Dr. Gowaty has discovered that gender affects interactions between caregiving adults (presumed parents) and nestling eastern bluebirds: Fathers feed their daughters more often than they feed their sons. Is this because daughters have greater energy requirements than sons? Dr. Gowaty will test the hypothesis that daughters need more energy than do sons to grow to the same size and weight. Gender-biased feeding occurs in those bird species in which gender interactions have been explored, but the proximate causation of such gender effects has not been evaluated. Eastern bluebirds provide an opportunity for efficient study of such effects because nestling bluebirds (unlike other species) can be assigned to gender simply by the color of the primary wing feathers, and because data on how parents and nestlings interact can be readily collected by filming inside a nest box. The doubly-labeled-water method is a well-established technique for measuring metabolic rates of animals living in the wild. Dr. Gowaty will use this technique to evaluate the metabolic rates of sons and daughters at various ages throughout nestling life. If daughters do not have higher metabolic rates than sons, the explanation for why fathers feed their daughters more than their sons will require additional investigation. The findings of this research project will be important, if only because it is the first attempt to measure metabolic differences of sons and daughters of wild-living birds, information that is critical to understanding patterns of parental care by avian parents. Whether or not sons and daughters differ in metabolic rates, the answer will be useful for elucidating the causation and control of parental care in birds.