Digestive Responses of Birds to Increased Demand for Food

小行星9318675 某些鸟类的摄食和消化率在迁徙前的育肥期、冬季暴露于低温期间和出生后生长期间特别高。PI将研究禽肠道如何适应高摄食率，因为这很重要，但研究很少。这些调整很重要，因为它们可能影响迁徙过程中的停留时间、鸟类的冬季分布以及生长和发育模式的演变。对鸟类肠道调节的研究也将补充对具有生物医学意义的哺乳动物的类似研究。最后，消化能力和局限性的知识应有助于人工饲料的设计，在圈养动物，从而改善动物园和具有经济价值的动物濒危物种的饲养方法。 PI将研究几种鸟类在迁徙、冷驯化和出生后生长期间对高摄食率的胃肠道调节。PI将检测胃肠道滞留时间、胃肠道组织数量以及消化酶和营养吸收的组织特异性水平的变化。选择这些特征是因为它们决定了整个动物营养性能的特征，例如消化效率和速率。 ***

9318675 Karasov Feeding and digestion rates of some birds are particularly high during fattening prior to migration, during wintertime exposure to low temperature, and during postnatal growth. The PI will study how the avian gut adjusts to high feeding rate because it is important and has been little studied. The adjustments are important because they might influence stop-over times during migration, wintertime distribution of birds, and the evolution of growth and development patterns. Study of the gut adjustments of birds will also complement similar kinds of studies in mammals that have biomedical significance. Finally, knowledge of digestive capabilities and limitations should help in the design of artificial diets for animals in captivity, and hence improve husbandry practices for both endangered species in zoological parks and animals with economic value. The PI will study gastrointestinal adjustments to high feeding rate in several avian species during migration, cold acclimation, and postnatal growth. The PI will test for changes in digesta retention time, amount of gastrointestinal tissue, and tissue-specific levels of digestive enzymes and nutrient absorption. These features are chosen because they determine features of whole-animal nutritional performance such as digestive efficiency and rate. ***