Ecology and Life History of Mountain Birds

山鸟生态与生活史

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-05468
• 负责人: Martin, Kathy
• 金额: $ 3.21万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=709725
• 关键词: Ecology; Life; History; Mountain; Birds

ECOLOGY AND LIFE HISTORY OF MOUNTAIN BIRDS - Birds, the most widespread terrestrial vertebrates, breed from 0 to >6000m elevation. My overall research goal is to determine how birds solve the problems of living and breeding successfully in extreme mountain habitats. My students and I will examine ecological mechanisms for persistence in alpine bird populations, within species life history variation across elevation gradients, seasonal movements, larger scale studies on avian biodiversity patterns, and conservation threats to temperate mountain ecosystems. Animals experience more variation and stochasticity in abiotic parameters (temperature, wind, precipitation, snow cover) in the alpine than those breeding at lower elevations. However, to incubate eggs and rear young, alpine birds must provide the same buffered thermal environment as other birds. In North America, alpine songbirds have up to 60% less time to breed and produce 50-60% fewer offspring annually compared with birds breeding 1 km lower. Nestlings develop more slowly at higher elevation and spend more days in the nest, incurring ecological costs (prolonged exposure to nest predation, prolonged parental investment). Some high elevation (HE) songbirds have 15-20% higher adult survival than low elevation (LE) conspecifics, offsetting at least partially their fecundity disadvantage. However, little is known about the physiological and ecological processes that produce these patterns, or their generality outside North America. Our working hypothesis is that selection operates on physiology, vital rates and behaviours to allow HE birds to shift to a slower life style where increased survival of adults and juveniles compensates for lower annual fecundity. We aim to identify the physiological and ecological mechanisms (e.g., oxidative stress, telomere length, plasticity in vital rates) that enable this life history shift. In 2016-2021, we will use observations of marked and radio-tagged birds, complemented by temperature and activity data loggers to investigate the behaviour, fecundity, nestling development, and longevity of songbirds and grouse along elevational gradients in North and South America. Alpine habitats are experiencing globally significant increases in temperature, habitat upshifting and extreme weather, but it is difficult to predict what will happen to birds because there is little information about avian use of alpine areas. We found that in North America 35% of birds use mountain habitats for one or more life history stages, and that habitat availability and connectivity will decrease strongly with climate change. In 2016-2021, we will examine avian densities and community composition among alpine, subalpine and montane habitats in the Chilean Andes. Our research will improve predictions for climate change impacts on persistence of alpine vertebrates. I will train 8 PhD, 3 MSc, 3 PDF and ~50 BSc HQP.

山地鸟类的生态和生活史-鸟类是分布最广的陆生脊椎动物，在海拔0至6000米以上的地方繁殖。我的总体研究目标是确定鸟类如何在极端的山地栖息地成功地解决生活和繁殖问题。我和我的学生将研究高山鸟类种群持久性的生态机制，物种生活史在海拔梯度变化，季节性运动，鸟类生物多样性模式的大规模研究，以及对温带山区生态系统的保护威胁。 动物经历更多的变化和随机性的非生物参数（温度，风，降水，积雪）在高山比那些在低海拔地区繁殖。然而，为了孵蛋和养育幼鸟，高山鸟类必须提供与其他鸟类相同的缓冲热环境。在北美，高山鸣禽的繁殖时间比在海拔1公里以下繁殖的鸟类少60%，每年繁殖的后代也少50-60%。 在海拔较高的地方，雏鸟发育较慢，在巢中呆的时间更长，从而产生生态成本（长时间暴露在巢捕食中，长时间的父母投资）。一些高海拔（HE）鸣禽有15-20%的成年生存率比低海拔（LE）同种，至少部分抵消了他们的繁殖力劣势。然而，很少有人知道的生理和生态过程，产生这些模式，或其普遍性以外的北美。 我们的工作假设是，选择操作的生理，生命率和行为，让他鸟转向一个较慢的生活方式，增加成人和青少年的生存补偿较低的年度繁殖力。我们的目标是确定生理和生态机制（例如，氧化应激，端粒长度，生命率的可塑性），使这种生活史的转变。在2016-2021年，我们将使用标记和无线电标记的鸟类的观察，辅以温度和活动数据记录器，以调查行为，繁殖力，雏鸟发育和鸣禽和松鸡的寿命沿着海拔梯度在北美和南美。 阿尔卑斯山栖息地正在经历全球气温显著上升，栖息地上移和极端天气，但很难预测鸟类会发生什么，因为几乎没有关于鸟类使用阿尔卑斯山地区的信息。我们发现，在北美，35%的鸟类在一个或多个生命史阶段使用山地栖息地，随着气候变化，栖息地的可用性和连通性将大幅下降。在2016-2021年，我们将研究在智利安第斯山脉的高山，亚高山和山地栖息地之间的鸟类密度和群落组成。我们的研究将改善气候变化对高山脊椎动物持久性影响的预测。我将培养8个博士，3个硕士，3个PDF和~50个BSc HQP。