Avian life history in the Anthropocene: a study of physiological, morphological, behavioural and fitness responses to rapid habitat change in an East African forest specialist (ANTHROBIRD).

不同栖息地的环境条件的差异导致了不同物种之间的生活史的差异。为了成功繁殖和生存，动物的生理、形态和行为需要与其栖息地的环境条件相适应。栖息地的碎片化和退化迅速改变了环境的非生物和生物属性，从而可能破坏生活史特征之间的平衡。特别是在物种多样性和人类人口压力最大的热带地区，许多原始地区在过去几十年里被碎片化和退化。这项研究通过对同一个体的内分泌学(特别是应激激素皮质酮)、免疫学、身体状况、父母行为和生殖成功的研究，考察了肯尼亚生物多样性热点泰塔丘陵云雾林的破碎和退化如何影响对热带森林专家平台泡桐繁殖的投资。多年来，人们对台塔山的鸟类群落进行了广泛的研究，为研究热带野生种群的生活史、进化和栖息地变化提供了一个独特的框架。由于热带物种的生活史不同(繁殖力低，但寿命长)，预计它们对栖息地变化的反应与温带物种不同，到目前为止，温带物种一直是大多数关于人为变化对动物种群影响的研究的重点。因此，这项研究的结果将有助于我们理解生活史的进化，特别是皮质酮和免疫系统作为栖息地变化下生活史权衡的中介所起的作用。

Variation in environmental conditions across habitats has led to variation in life histories between species. To successfully reproduce and survive, an animals physiology, morphology and behaviour need to be tuned to the environmental conditions of its habitat. Habitat fragmentation and degradation rapidly change abiotic and biotic properties of the environment and may, thereby, disrupt the balance between life history traits. Especially in tropical areas, where species biodiversity, but also human population pressure, are highest, many pristine areas have been fragmented and degraded in the last decades. This study examines how fragmentation and degradation of the cloud forests of the Taita Hills, a biodiversity hotspot in Kenya, affects investment into reproduction in a tropical forest specialist, Phyllastrephus placidus, by studying endocrinology (in particular the stress hormone corticosterone), immunology, body condition, parental behaviour and reproductive success concomitantly in the same individuals. The bird community of the Taita Hills has been studied extensively for many years and offers a unique framework to study life history evolution and habitat change in a wild tropical population. Because of their different life history (low fecundity, but long lifespan) tropical species can be expected to respond differently to habitat change than temperate species, which have been the focus of most studies on the effects of anthropogenic change on animal populations so far. Thus, the results of this study will make a major contribution to our understanding of life history evolution, in particular the role of corticosterone and the immune system as mediators of life history trade-offs under habitat change.