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: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=631721
• 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.

我有一本书正在印刷（鸟类繁殖的生理适应），它提供了一个全面的审查鸟类繁殖，并得出结论，而值得注意的是，我们只有一个初步的，在某些情况下不存在的，了解生理机制的基础上的生殖特征，人口研究表明，最密切相关的个体变异的生殖成功，例如繁殖的时间，产卵数量和父母的照顾。我提出了两个主题：我们必须从女性的角度来考虑这个话题，我们需要关注个体的变化，我认为，如果我们要成功地整合生理学和生态学，鸟类繁殖研究的重点应该转移。我将结合联合收割机实验室研究圈养繁殖斑马雀（500多只鸟）的研究自由生活，巢箱繁殖欧洲椋鸟。在一系列的相关和实验研究中，我将调查生理机制支撑的个体差异，a）繁殖的时间，和B）父母的照顾，整合数据的温度，猎物的可用性，觅食行为，和生理（激素水平，代谢物，血液学）接近这一点从一个新的“运动生理学”的角度来自人类运动医学研究。第二组实验将验证，然后使用，生理技术的操纵个别变化的离合器大小，以确定激素控制机制，调节鸡蛋的数量鸟类奠定。这项研究的长期目标是更好地整合生理学和进化生物学，以增加我们对支撑鸟类生活史特征的生理反应机制的了解，这些特征对适应性变化贡献最大。这项工作是至关重要的，使我们能够发展预测的能力，而不仅仅是跟踪，气候变化将如何影响鸟类种群：这需要我们获得更好地了解基本的，潜在的生理和激素机制，将环境线索和环境条件与繁殖联系起来。