Dissertation Research: The Ecological Basis of Delayed Dispersal and Sensitivity to Landscape Structure

生物学家一直对鸟类和哺乳动物的合作繁殖系统很感兴趣，因为这些帮助者明显是利他主义的，不繁殖的成年动物似乎为了帮助其他动物而放弃了自己的繁殖，很像工蜂和蚂蚁。根据帮助者行为所带来的未来利益来解释帮助者的行为，特别是根据他们所帮助的领土上的繁殖地位的遗传来解释帮助者的行为，在应用于北美物种时取得了相当大的成功。在这项研究中，我们在一种澳大利亚鸟类身上测试了这一理论。合作繁殖在澳大利亚比其他任何地方都要普遍得多，所以任何关于其起源的理论都必须适用于那里。我们还比较了破碎栖息地中物种的生物学特征，在破碎栖息地中物种数量下降，而在完整栖息地中物种数量继续增长，以发现其对栖息地破碎化敏感的基础。物种因生境破碎化而丧失是一个普遍的问题，解决这个问题需要更好地了解对破碎化敏感的生物学基础。

Walters9801083Biologists have been intrigued by cooperative breeding systems of birds and mammals because of the apparent altruism of helpers, non-breeding adults who seemingly give up their own reproduction in order to assist others, much like worker bees and ants. Explanations of the behavior of helpers based on future benefits resulting from their actions, particularly inheritance of the breeding position on the territory on which they help, have enjoyed considerable success when applied to North American species. In this study we test this theory on an Australian bird species. Cooperative breeding is far more common in Australia than anywhere else, so any theory of its origin must apply there to be at all general. We also compare the biology of the species in fragmented habitat where it is declining to that in intact habitat where it continues to thrive in order to discover the basis of its sensitivity to habitat fragmentation. Loss of species to habitat fragmentation is a universal problem, whose solution requires a better understanding of the biological basis of sensitivity to fragmentation.