Physiological costs of reproduction and carryover effects on fitness-related processes in migratory animals.

我的研究小组将调查有助于在加拿大北部繁殖的重要迁徙动物的生存和繁殖成功的生理因素。虽然大多数研究人员都了解冬季气候对迁徙动物的行为和生存的影响，但对介导这些事件的生理因素知之甚少。在接下来的五年里，我将结合使用电子跟踪和生理采样技术，以及对生理状态的实验操作，来研究动物在冬季迁徙之前的状况如何影响它们随后的行为和生存，以及这如何影响未来的繁殖表现。示范物种将是普通绒鸭（一种北极繁殖海鸟）和大西洋鲑鱼（一种鲑鱼科鱼类，从亚北极到北极地区沿纬度梯度繁殖），这两个物种对加拿大北部的经济、文化和生物完整性很重要。我的具体目标是：1）探索繁殖后的生理条件与随后的冬季迁徙活动模式和冬季环境条件之间的相关性; 2）探索冬季觅食成功如何影响繁殖前的生理条件、繁殖投资和繁殖成功。最终，我的研究计划旨在了解环境因素和生理机制，联系行为，生存和繁殖成功的动物。通过比较分析（绒鸭和鲑鱼），并沿沿着纬度梯度的模式检查，我希望了解，从而预测，未来的气候变化的影响可能会影响这些重要的加拿大物种的人口统计。这项研究将以达尔豪西大学为基础，将邀请加拿大其他几所大学和政府机构的研究人员参与，并将直接支持一名博士后研究员、六名研究生和10名本科生研究人员，从而为培养高素质的人才做出贡献。我们的研究的长期目标将产生新的见解的生理控制生活史，以及气候变化对迁徙物种繁殖在加拿大北部的潜在影响。

My research group will investigate the physiological factors that contribute to the survival and reproductive success of important migratory animals breeding in the Canadian North. Although most researchers have an appreciation for the effects that winter climate has on the behaviour and survival of migratory animals, very little is known about the physiological factors that mediate these events. Over the next five years, I will use a combination of electronic tracking and physiological sampling techniques, and experimental manipulations of physiological state to examine how the condition of animals prior to winter migrations affect their subsequent behaviour and survival, and how this then carries over to affect future breeding performance. Model species will be Common eiders- (an Arctic breeding seabird), and Atlantic salmon (a salmonid fish species that breeds along a latitudinal gradient from sub-Arctic to Arctic areas), two species that are important to the economic, cultural and biological integrity of the Canadian North. My specific aims are to: 1) explore correlations between post-breeding physiological condition with subsequent patterns of winter migration activity and winter environmental conditions; and 2) explore how winter foraging success then affects pre-breeding physiological condition, breeding investment, and breeding success. Ultimately, my research program aims to understand the environmental factors and physiological mechanisms that link behaviour, survival, and breeding success of animals. Through comparative analyses (eiders and salmon), and examination of patterns along latitudinal gradients, I hope to understand, and thus predict, how future climate change impacts might affect population demographics in these important Canadian species. This research will be based at Dalhousie University, will engage researchers at several other Canadian universities and government agencies, and will directly support one postdoctoral fellow, six graduate students, and 10 undergraduate researchers, thus contributing to the training of highly qualified personnel. The long-term goals of our research will yield novel insights to the physiologies controlling life-histories, and the potential impacts of climate change on migratory species breeding in the Canadian North.