Adaptation to the temporal environment: evolutionary ecology of mammalian phenologies

从环境中获得的能源必须超过其所消耗的能源。任何产生更大能量盈余的特征都将允许更多地分配给生存和/或繁殖，因此代表着一种适应。这样，物候(即年度生活史事件的时间)可以被视为对时间环境的适应。对于鸟类和哺乳动物来说，在耗费能量的事件(例如繁殖)和资源丰富时期之间实现适当的同步尤其重要。恒温使这些类群得以在地球上一些最寒冷的地区定居，但它带来了巨大的能源成本。因此，轻微的不同步将产生严重的精力(因此，健康)后果。几个世纪以来，鸟类物候一直吸引着科学和公众的兴趣，但我们对哺乳动物物候的了解相对较差。我建议调查三个强大的野生哺乳动物研究系统中的物候变化。红松鼠(

Energy acquired from the environment must exceed that which is expended in its acquisition. Any trait that yields a greater energy surplus will permit greater allocation to survival and/or reproduction and, hence, represent an adaptation. In this way, phenologies (i.e., timing of annual life history events) can be viewed as adaptations to the temporal environment. Achieving proper synchrony between energetically expensive events (e.g., reproduction) and periods of resource abundance is especially consequential for birds and mammals. Endothermy has enabled these taxa to colonize some of the coldest areas on the globe, but it entails substantial energetic costs. Slight asynchrony will thus have severe energetic (and thus, fitness) consequences. While avian phenologies have attracted scientific and public interest for centuries, our understanding of mammalian phenologies is comparatively poor. I propose to investigate phenological variation in three powerful wild mammal study systems. Red squirrels (