How does supplemental feeding effect demography and reproductive fitness in endangered bird species on Mauritius?"

补充喂养如何影响毛里求斯濒危鸟类的人口统计和生殖健康？”

• 批准号: 2446059
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Kent
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2446059
• 关键词: How; does; supplemental; feeding; effect

Scientific background: An increasing number of threatened species require some form of human intervention in order to persist. A common form of ecological management is to provide supplemental food, often in an effort to increase productivity where natural resources are believed to be limiting population growth1. The precise impacts of doing so however, are rarely evaluated and can include unintended negative consequences associated with disease transmission and behavioural adaptations2, so encouraging natural foraging is desirable; doing so also has clear benefits when restoring ecological communities. Characterising individual dietary composition can be challenging, but is crucial in order to better target individuals or populations most likely to benefit from provisioning.Research methodology: The student will characterise individual-level dietary composition of two sympatrically occurring endangered bird species in Mauritius; the pink pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri) and Mauritius parakeet (Psittacula echo). Both are offered supplemental food and methods have been developed in this system by the supervisory team to quantify individual consumption by (a) analysing stable isotope signatures of feathers3, and (b) using Next-Generation-Sequencing techniques to identify important food plant species4. The student will use this information alongside long-term data on reproductive fitness for these individually-marked populations5, in order to (i) evaluate the role of supplemental feeding in regulating populations, and (ii) identify important native plant food-sources and associated habitat fragments in this denuded forest ecosystem. This novel approach will tailor supplementary-feeding strategies to enhance population recovery and guide restoration of endemic forests and their ecological function.

科学背景：越来越多的受威胁物种需要某种形式的人类干预才能持续存在。生态管理的一种常见形式是提供补充食物，通常是为了提高生产力，因为人们认为自然资源限制了人口增长1。然而，这样做的确切影响很少得到评估，可能包括与疾病传播和行为适应相关的意外负面后果2，因此鼓励自然觅食是可取的；这样做在恢复生态社区时也有明显的好处。确定个人的饮食结构可能是具有挑战性的，但为了更好地针对最有可能从供应中受益的个人或群体，这一点至关重要。研究方法：学生将描述毛里求斯两个共存的濒危鸟类的个人水平的饮食结构：粉色鸽子(Nesoenas Mayeri)和毛里求斯鹦鹉(Psittalula Echo)。这两个系统都提供了补充食物，监督小组在这个系统中开发了方法，通过(A)分析羽毛的稳定同位素特征3和(B)使用下一代测序技术来确定重要的食用植物物种4来量化个人消费量。学生将使用这些信息以及关于这些单独标记的种群生殖适宜性的长期数据5，以便(I)评估补充饲料在调节种群方面的作用，以及(Ii)在这个裸露的森林生态系统中确定重要的本地植物食物来源和相关的栖息地碎片。这一新办法将针对补充喂养战略，加强人口恢复，并指导恢复特有森林及其生态功能。