Interactive Effects of Dietary Fatty Acids and Antioxidants on Diet Choices, Metabolism, and Exercise Performance of Migratory Songbirds

主要研究者：Scott R. McWilliams，副教授，罗得岛大学Barbara J. Pierce博士，助理教授，圣心大学项目编号：IOS-0748349项目名称：膳食脂肪酸和抗氧化剂对鸟类饮食选择、代谢和运动表现的相互作用摘要：运动员通过训练和进食来提高其按需执行的能力。我们对野生动物的生态学和生理学的理解中的一个主要差距是生物化学，生理学和行为过程如何相互作用以影响整个动物的表现。研究人员将通过实验确定膳食脂肪和抗氧化剂如何影响候鸟的饮食选择，新陈代谢和运动表现。两种迁徙鸣禽将被喂食含有特定类型脂肪和抗氧化剂的食物。然后，研究人员测量了这些候鸟在短期高强度运动中的新陈代谢和能量消耗，比如用来逃避捕食者的运动，以及在风洞中进行长时间迁徙飞行的运动。研究人员还将确定鸟类是否选择它们的饮食以达到最佳的脂肪组成，以及这是否取决于鸟类的状况或饮食中抗氧化剂的浓度。该研究将由一个垂直整合的研究团队进行，该团队由一所大型州立研究型大学（美国），一所小型私立大学（美国）和马克斯普朗克鸟类学研究所（德国）的成员组成，以便参与者获得在多种教育和研究环境中工作的经验。整个社会将从这项研究中受益，因为目前人们对膳食抗氧化剂以及它们如何促进人类健康很感兴趣，候鸟为研究膳食抗氧化剂和脂肪成分对脊椎动物运动表现的影响提供了一个有趣的模型系统。此外，了解迁徙鸣禽的营养生态学是至关重要的，因为许多鸣禽种群正在下降，因为候鸟被认为是疾病的传播者，因为鸟类在迁徙过程中使用的许多地点受到人类发展或干扰的威胁。因此，对迁徙鸣禽的饮食选择和运动表现的基础研究对野生动物保护和人类健康具有重要意义。

Principal Investigators: Dr. Scott R. McWilliams, Associate Professor, University of Rhode Island Dr. Barbara J. Pierce, Assistant Professor, Sacred Heart UniversityProject Number: IOS-0748349Project Title: Interactive effects of dietary fatty acids and antioxidants on diet choices, metabolism, and exercise performance of birdsAbstract: Athletes train and eat to increase their capacity to perform on demand. A major gap in our understanding of the ecology and physiology of wild animals is how biochemical, physiological, and behavioral processes interact to affect whole-animal performance. The investigators will experimentally determine how dietary fats and antioxidants influence diet choices, metabolism, and exercise performance of migratory birds. Two species of migratory songbird will be fed diets with certain types of fats and antioxidants. The investigators then measure the metabolism and energy expenditure of these migratory birds during short-intense exercise, like that used to escape predators, and during long-duration migratory flights in a wind tunnel. The investigators will also determine if birds choose their diets to achieve some optimum fat composition, and whether this depends on the condition of the bird or the concentration of antioxidants in the diet. The research will be conducted by a vertically-integrated research team comprised of members from a large state research university (USA), a small private university (USA), and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (Germany) so that participants gain experience working within a diversity of educational and research settings. Society at large will benefit from this research because there is much current interest in dietary antioxidants and how they may promote human health, and migratory birds offer an interesting model system for studying the effects of dietary antioxidants and fat composition on exercise performance of a vertebrate. Also, understanding the nutritional ecology of migratory songbirds is critical because many songbird populations are declining, because migratory birds are implicated as dispersers of disease, and because many of the sites used by birds during their migration are threatened by development or disturbance by humans. Thus, this fundamental research on diet choices and exercise performance of migratory songbirds has important implications for wildlife conservation and human health.