LTREB: Role of winter sociality in the evolution of facultative social behavior

LTREB：冬季社交在兼性社交行为演变中的作用

• 批准号: 0097027
• 负责人: Janis Dickinson
• 金额: $ 27.07万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-03-01 至 2007-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0097027&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: LTREB; Role; winter; sociality; evolution

PI: Janis L. Dickinson Proposal # 0097027Proposal Title: The role of winter sociality in the evolution of facultative social behaviorThis is a proposal to continue a long-term study of a color-banded population of western bluebirds whose sons exhibit remarkable behavioral plasticity in the form of staying with parents for winter, breeding on their own, helping at their parents' nest, and feeding at nests of widowed females. The specific aim of this study is to determine the benefits for young males remaining on their parents' territory through the first winter, a behavior that is a necessary precondition for further interaction with parents later in life. Mistletoe berries are a stable winter resource that is key to year-round territorial behavior in this system. An experiment that involves removing half the mistletoe from winter territories will determine the impact of mistletoe abundance on whether sons stay, their condition, and their success at acquiring a mate and breeding territory of their own. The alternative hypothesis, that sons benefit by staying home due to the preferential treatment they receive when they remain with parents, will also be tested. In fact, both access to parental resources and preferential treatment by parents may simultaneously explain why sons remain home. This work is novel because mistletoe is a uniquely manipulable food resource and its availability only during winter allows for a clean separation of the importance of winter food for dispersal and family stability in a species with year-round territories. Although the results of this study will address a basic question in evolutionary behavioral ecology, they will also address an issue of potential importance to the decline of western bluebirds in California. If mistletoe quantity proves critical to the tendency for young males to stay home for winter and reduction of mistletoe has negative impacts on the condition and survival of stay-at-home sons, then we will have identified a key environmental variable regulating bluebird populations in California.

PI：Janis L.狄金森 提案#0097027提案标题：冬季社会性在兼性社会行为进化中的作用这是一项继续对西部蓝知更鸟种群进行长期研究的提案，这些蓝知更鸟的儿子表现出显着的行为可塑性，表现为与父母一起过冬，自己繁殖，在父母的巢中帮忙，以及在丧偶雌性的巢中觅食。 这项研究的具体目的是确定年轻男性留在父母的领土上度过第一个冬天的好处，这是一个必要的先决条件，在以后的生活中与父母进一步互动的行为。 槲寄生浆果是一种稳定的冬季资源，是这个系统中全年领土行为的关键。 一项实验涉及从冬季领土上移除一半的槲寄生，将确定槲寄生丰度对儿子是否留下来、他们的状况以及他们成功获得配偶和繁殖领土的影响。 另一种假设，即儿子留在家里受益，因为他们与父母呆在一起时受到优惠待遇，也将得到检验。 事实上，获得父母资源和父母的优惠待遇可能同时解释了为什么儿子留在家里。 这项工作是新颖的，因为槲寄生是一种独特的可操纵的食物资源，它的可用性只有在冬季允许一个干净的分离的重要性，冬季食物的传播和家庭稳定的物种与全年的领土。 虽然这项研究的结果将解决进化行为生态学中的一个基本问题，但它们也将解决一个对加州西部蓝知更鸟数量下降具有潜在重要性的问题。 如果槲寄生数量证明是关键的趋势，年轻的男性留在家里过冬和减少槲寄生的条件和生存的留在家里的儿子有负面影响，那么我们将确定一个关键的环境变量调节蓝鸟种群在加州。