Reproductive Effort and Success in Birds

鸟类的繁殖努力和成功

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-04377
• 负责人: Dawson, Russell
• 金额: $ 1.53万
• 依托单位: University of Northern British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=612927
• 关键词: Reproductive; Effort; Success; Birds

Organisms live in an uncertain and challenging world where the critical measure of success (fitness) is the number of progeny they produce that subsequently also reproduce. Processes operating during the breeding cycle can especially influence fitness. In birds, for example, choice of an appropriate mate, allocation of energy and nutrients to offspring, and external factors such as parasitism are all critical. To better understand why fitness varies among individual birds, my research focuses on four major areas of study: (1) Resource Acquisition and Allocation: A key objective in evolutionary ecology is to understand how organisms allocate limited resources between reproduction and self-maintenance, but a lack of knowledge of the resources available to individuals has impeded progress in this area. By measuring food abundance on spatially appropriate scales (territories), and manipulating work rates of parents, we will provide much needed insight into how environmental factors such as resource availability drive parental investment strategies. (2) Indicators of Quality: Indicators of quality such as elaborate plumage colours in birds are thought to be costly to produce, but demonstrating that production of non-pigment based colour is costly has been elusive. I will test how nutrient limitation during feather growth influences the ability to produce elaborate plumage colour. Further, it is now recognized that conditions experienced early in life can impact performance during adulthood, and experiments and long-term data sets will be used to explore how natal conditions influence ability to produce colourful plumage as adults. (3) Patterns of Paternity: In socially monogamous birds, females often mate outside the pair bond but the benefits of this are unclear. By manipulating perceived hatching failure in nests and then measuring rates of extra-pair paternity in subsequent breeding attempts, I will test whether this is a strategy that females use for ensuring fertility of their eggs. (4) Host-Parasite Interactions: Nest-dwelling ectoparasites have detrimental effects on offspring growth and survival, and so can have important consequences for fitness, yet we know little about what drives variation in infestation rates among nests. Genetic diversity of hosts, both in terms of specific genes involved with immunity and more generally throughout the genome, can be an important determinant of resistance to parasites. I will test how genetic diversity of hosts influences the ability of parasites to exploit them, which in turn can influence size of parasite populations. My research will provide significant insights into the reproductive ecology of birds, which is vital to understand as environmental conditions continue to change, and will provide rich opportunities for students to solve critically important questions in evolutionary ecology and basic biology.

生物体生活在一个不确定和具有挑战性的世界中，成功（适应性）的关键衡量标准是它们产生的后代的数量，这些后代随后也繁殖。在繁殖周期中运行的过程尤其会影响适应性。例如，在鸟类中，选择合适的配偶，为后代分配能量和营养，以及寄生等外部因素都是至关重要的。为了更好地理解为什么不同鸟类的健康状况不同，我的研究集中在四个主要研究领域： (1)资源获取和分配：进化生态学的一个关键目标是了解生物如何在繁殖和自我维持之间分配有限的资源，但缺乏对个体可用资源的了解阻碍了这一领域的进展。通过在空间上适当的尺度（领土）上测量食物丰度，并操纵父母的工作率，我们将提供急需的洞察力，了解环境因素，如资源的可用性如何驱动父母的投资策略。 (2)质量指标：质量指标，如鸟类精心制作的羽毛颜色，被认为是昂贵的生产，但证明非色素基颜色的生产是昂贵的一直难以捉摸。我将测试羽毛生长过程中的营养限制是如何影响羽毛颜色的。此外，人们现在认识到，生命早期经历的条件可能会影响成年期的表现，实验和长期数据集将用于探索纳塔尔条件如何影响成年人产生彩色羽毛的能力。 (3)父权模式：在社会一夫一妻制的鸟类中，雌性经常在配偶关系之外交配，但这样做的好处还不清楚。通过操纵感知孵化失败的巢，然后测量率的额外对亲子在随后的繁殖尝试，我将测试这是否是一个策略，女性使用，以确保其鸡蛋的生育能力。 (4)宿主-寄生虫相互作用：巢居外寄生虫对后代的生长和生存有不利影响，因此可能对健康产生重要影响，但我们对是什么驱动了巢间侵染率的变化知之甚少。宿主的遗传多样性，无论是在涉及免疫的特定基因方面，还是更普遍地在整个基因组中，都是对寄生虫产生抗性的重要决定因素。我将测试宿主的遗传多样性如何影响寄生虫利用它们的能力，这反过来又会影响寄生虫种群的大小。 我的研究将提供重要的见解鸟类的生殖生态学，这是至关重要的了解环境条件的不断变化，并将为学生提供丰富的机会，解决进化生态学和基础生物学中至关重要的问题。