Physiological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds

鸟类繁殖的生理适应

• 批准号: 155395-2012
• 负责人: Williams, Tony
• 金额: $ 4.37万
• 依托单位: Simon Fraser University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=569452
• 关键词: Physiological; Adaptations; Breeding; Birds

I have a book in press (Physiological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds) that provides a comprehensive review of avian reproduction and concludes, rather remarkably, that we have only a rudimentary, and in some cases non-existent, understanding of the physiological mechanisms underpinning reproductive traits which population studies have shown are most closely related to individual variation in reproductive success, e.g. timing of breeding, number of eggs laid, and parental care. I develop two main themes: that we must consider this topic from a female perspective and that we need to focus on individual variation, and I argue for a shift of focus in research on avian reproduction if we are to successfully integrate physiology and ecology. I will combine laboratory studies of captive-breeding zebra finches (500+ birds) with studies of free-living, nest-box breeding European starlings. In a series of correlative and experimental studies I will investigate physiological mechanisms underpinning individual variation in, a) timing of breeding, and b) parental care, integrating data on temperature, prey availability, foraging behavior, and physiology (hormone levels, metabolites, hematology) approaching this from a novel "exercise physiology" perspective derived from human sports medicine studies. A second set of experiments will validate, and then use, physiological techniques for manipulation of individual variation in clutch size to identify the hormonal control mechanisms regulating the number of eggs birds lay. The long-term goal of this research is to better integrate physiology and evolutionary biology to increase our knowledge of the physiological response mechanisms underpinning the avian life-history traits that contribute most to variation in fitness. This work is critical to enable us to develop an ability to predict, not simply track, how climate change will affect avian populations: this requires that we obtain a far better understanding of the basic, underlying physiological and hormonal mechanisms that link environmental cues and environmental conditions to reproduction.

我有一本媒体上的书（生理适应鸟类中的繁殖），对禽类繁殖进行了全面的综述，并结论一下，我们只有一个基本的，并且在某些情况下不存在对生殖性状的生理性质研究的理解，这表明人口研究表明，对生殖性状很密切相关，这表明与个体相关，这与生殖成功相关。繁殖时间，产卵的数量和父母护理。我发展了两个主要主题：我们必须从女性的角度考虑这个话题，我们需要专注于个体变异，如果我们要成功整合生理学和生态学，我就主张将重点转移到禽类繁殖中。我将结合对圈养斑马雀（500多只鸟类）的实验室研究，以及关于自由生活的巢箱繁殖欧洲八哥的研究。在一系列的相关和实验研究中，我将研究为个人变异的生理机制，a）育种时机和b）育儿照料，整合有关温度，猎物可用性，觅食行为和生理学的数据（激素水平，代谢物，血液学，血液学，血液学），从一项新颖的“运动生理学”衍生而来的运动学研究。第二组实验将验证，然后使用生理技术来操纵离合器大小的个体变异，以识别调节卵子鸟类数量的激素控制机制。这项研究的长期目标是更好地整合生理学和进化生物学，以提高我们对基于鸟类生活创造的生理反应机制的了解，从而对适应性变化造成了最大的影响。这项工作对于使我们能够发展能够预测气候变化将如何影响鸟类人群的能力至关重要：这要求我们对基本的，潜在的生理和激素机制有更好的了解，这些机制将环境线索和环境条件与复制联系起来。