Why Do Eggs Fail? An investigation into hatching failure in wild and managed bird populations

许多保护计划将受管理的野生和圈养鸟类种群作为其保护濒危物种并将其从边缘带回的战略的一部分，但这些种群往往表现出很高的孵化率。孵化失败影响了大约10%的禽蛋，但在濒危物种中发生率更高。因此，繁殖成功是保护计划的主要关注点，先前的研究表明，不育通常是圈养种群孵化失败的主要原因，而早期胚胎死亡(EEM)在野生种群中更为常见。然而，人们对导致孵化失败的驱动因素知之甚少，野生和圈养种群之间的差异表明，因素可能与环境和/或管理有关。我的目标是调查为什么管理鸟类种群经常表现出高水平的孵化失败，与英国和新西兰的野生和圈养管理种群合作，建立导致不孕不育和EEM的关键因素。我将回顾目前由不同管理种群计划实施的干预措施，并将确定物种内和物种之间的生育力和EEM模式，然后调查内因和外因，重点是行为、环境、疾病和卵子微生物群。

Many conservation programmes incorporate managed wild and captive bird populations aspart of their strategies to preserve endangered species and bring them "back from the brink",but these populations often exhibit high rates of hatching failure. Hatching failure affectsapproximately 10% of avian eggs overall, but much higher incidence rates can occur inendangered species. Reproductive success is therefore of major interest to conservationprogrammes, with previous research showing that infertility is typically the main cause ofhatching failure in captive populations, while early embryo mortality (EEM) is more commonin wild populations. Still, little is known about the drivers leading to hatching failure, with thedifferences between wild and captive populations indicating that factors may be environmentand/or management dependent.I aim to investigate why managed bird populations often exhibit high levels of hatching failure,working with wild and captive managed populations in the UK and New Zealand to establishthe key factors underlying infertility and EEM. I will review the current interventionsimplemented by different programmes for managed populations and will identify patterns ofinfertility and EEM within and between species, then investigate the intrinsic and extrinsiccauses, with a focus on behaviour, environment, disease, and egg microbiomes.