Parental Care Decisions in Biparental Mammals and Birds

我研究了影响鸟类和哺乳动物父母照料决定的社会、激素和环境因素。双亲物种的父母(父母双方都提供照顾)必须平衡他们后代的需要与他们自己和他们的伴侣保持健康状况的要求。我的重点是一种哺乳动物系统(人类)和两种海鸟(普通海雀和大西洋海雀)，前者具有高度可变的父系照顾，后者具有义务的双亲照顾。我们发现，人类父亲有两种睾丸素(T)模式：一些父亲的睾酮(T)水平较低，并与年幼的孩子进行持续的高质量互动。其他父亲的测试前T水平较高，如果他们与孩子有高质量的互动，特别是如果母亲参与的互动较少，T水平就会下降。在这个授权期，我将研究催产素(OT)，被认为是一种结合激素，如何与T相互作用，影响父亲的反应。例如，我们预测，在父婴接触之前，较高的OT水平将导致T下降最大，特别是在父亲较少、T较高的男性中。了解父性互动和荷尔蒙反应之间的联系可以帮助形成社会政策，促进整个社会更多的父亲参与。我研究了两种在配偶评估策略上不同的海鸟。开放的悬崖筑巢的普通鸣禽与它们的配偶(其中一只总是和雏鸟在一起)权衡了父母的责任，因此鸟类知道它们配偶的父母素质。相比之下，在洞穴筑巢的海雀中，两只配偶都可以同时觅食，幼鸟的乞讨行为和状况是父母知道它们的配偶工作有多努力的唯一线索。我们将继续研究在不同水平的猎物(Capelin)可获得性的年份中，配偶和亲子行为的相互作用，以确定环境因素如何影响成年生理(应激激素水平、脂肪代谢)以及影响父母喂养自己或雏鸟的决定。通过我与加拿大环境部的持续合作研究，我的海鸟研究也可以为保护海洋环境的保护和野生动物管理决策做出贡献。

I study the social, hormonal and environmental factors that affect the parental care decision of birds and mammals. Parents in biparental species (both parents provide care) must balance the needs of their offspring with their own and their partners' requirements for maintaining healthy condition. I focus on one mammalian system (humans) with highly variable paternal care and two seabird species (common murres and Atlantic puffins) with obligate biparental care. We showed that there are two testosterone (T) patterns in human fathers: some fathers have lower T and consistent high quality interactions with their young children. Other fathers have higher pre-test T levels that decline if they have a high quality interaction with their child, particularly if the mother was less involved in the interaction. In this grant period I will examine how oxytocin (OT), considered to be a bonding hormone, interacts with T to affect paternal responsiveness. For example, we predict that high OT levels prior to father-infant contact will cause the greatest decline in T, particularly in the less paternal, high T men. Understanding the links between paternal interactions and hormonal responses could help shape social policy that promotes increased father involvement throughout society. I study two seabird species that differ in mate assessment strategies. The open cliff-nesting common murres trade off parental duties with their mate (one mate is always with the chick) and thus birds knows their mate's parental quality. In contrast, in the burrow-nesting puffin, both mates can forage simultaneously and the chicks' begging behavior and condition are the parent's only cues about how hard their mate is working. We will continue to study mate and parent-young behavioral interactions in years with different levels of prey (capelin) availability to determine how environmental factors impact adult physiology (stress hormone levels, lipid metabolism) and affect parental decisions to feed self or the chick. Through my continuing collaborative studies with Environment Canada, my seabird research can also contribute to conservation and wildlife management decisions that will protect the marine environment.