Parental Care Decisions in Biparental Mammals and Birds

我研究影响鸟类和哺乳动物的父母照顾决定的社会，激素和环境因素。双亲物种的父母（父母双方都提供照顾）必须平衡后代的需要与他们自己和他们的伴侣保持健康状况的要求。 我专注于一个哺乳动物系统（人类）与高度可变的父亲照顾和两个海鸟物种（常见的海雀和大西洋海雀）与义务双亲照顾。我们发现，人类父亲中有两种睾酮（T）模式：一些父亲的T较低，与年幼的孩子有持续的高质量互动。其他父亲有更高的测试前T水平下降，如果他们有一个高质量的互动与他们的孩子，特别是如果母亲参与互动较少。在这段时间里，我将研究催产素（OT），被认为是一种结合激素，如何与T相互作用，影响父亲的反应。 例如，我们预测，在父亲与婴儿接触之前，高OT水平将导致T的最大下降，特别是在父亲较少的高T男性中。了解父亲的互动和荷尔蒙反应之间的联系可以帮助制定社会政策，促进父亲在整个社会中的参与。 我研究了两种不同的海鸟择偶策略。 在开阔的悬崖上筑巢的普通海鸦会与它们的配偶交换父母的责任（一个配偶总是和雏鸟在一起），因此鸟类知道它们配偶的父母品质。相比之下，在洞穴筑巢的海雀中，配偶双方可以同时觅食，雏鸟的乞讨行为和条件是父母对其配偶工作努力程度的唯一暗示。 我们将继续研究配偶和父母的年轻的行为相互作用，在不同水平的猎物（毛鳞鱼）的可用性，以确定环境因素如何影响成年生理（应激激素水平，脂质代谢）和影响父母的决定，养活自己或小鸡。通过我与加拿大环境部的持续合作研究，我的海鸟研究也可以为保护海洋环境的保护和野生动物管理决策做出贡献。

I study the social, hormonal and environmental factors that affect the parental care decision of birds and mammals. Parents in biparental species (both parents provide care) must balance the needs of their offspring with their own and their partners' requirements for maintaining healthy condition. I focus on one mammalian system (humans) with highly variable paternal care and two seabird species (common murres and Atlantic puffins) with obligate biparental care. We showed that there are two testosterone (T) patterns in human fathers: some fathers have lower T and consistent high quality interactions with their young children. Other fathers have higher pre-test T levels that decline if they have a high quality interaction with their child, particularly if the mother was less involved in the interaction. In this grant period I will examine how oxytocin (OT), considered to be a bonding hormone, interacts with T to affect paternal responsiveness. For example, we predict that high OT levels prior to father-infant contact will cause the greatest decline in T, particularly in the less paternal, high T men. Understanding the links between paternal interactions and hormonal responses could help shape social policy that promotes increased father involvement throughout society. I study two seabird species that differ in mate assessment strategies. The open cliff-nesting common murres trade off parental duties with their mate (one mate is always with the chick) and thus birds knows their mate's parental quality. In contrast, in the burrow-nesting puffin, both mates can forage simultaneously and the chicks' begging behavior and condition are the parent's only cues about how hard their mate is working. We will continue to study mate and parent-young behavioral interactions in years with different levels of prey (capelin) availability to determine how environmental factors impact adult physiology (stress hormone levels, lipid metabolism) and affect parental decisions to feed self or the chick. Through my continuing collaborative studies with Environment Canada, my seabird research can also contribute to conservation and wildlife management decisions that will protect the marine environment.