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，因为助手们明显的利他主义，不繁殖的成年人似乎放弃了自己的繁殖以帮助他人，就像工蜂和蚂蚁一样。 根据帮助者的行为所产生的未来利益，特别是他们帮助的领土上的繁殖位置的遗传，对帮助者的行为进行解释，在应用于北美物种时取得了相当大的成功。在这项研究中，我们测试了澳大利亚鸟类的这一理论。合作育种在澳大利亚比在其他任何地方都要普遍得多，所以任何关于它起源的理论都必须适用于那里才能普遍。 我们还比较了生物学的物种在破碎的栖息地，它正在下降，在完整的栖息地，它继续蓬勃发展，以发现其敏感性栖息地破碎的基础。 生境破碎化导致的物种损失是一个普遍性问题，其解决方案需要更好地了解破碎化敏感性的生物学基础。

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.