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

我的研究小组将研究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。尽管大多数研究人员已经认识到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，我将使用电子跟踪和生理采样技术的结合，以及生理状态的实验操作来研究动物在冬季迁徙之前的状态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。模范物种将是普通绒鸭（一种在北极繁殖的海鸟）和大西洋鲑鱼（一种沿亚北极到北极地区的纬度梯度繁殖的鲑科鱼类），这两个物种对加拿大北部的经济、文化和生物完整性都很重要。我的具体目标是：1)探索繁殖后生理状况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)探讨冬季觅食成功对育种前生理条件、育种投入和育种成功的影响。最终，我的研究项目旨在了解动物行为、生存和繁殖成功之间的环境因素和生理机制。通过比较分析（绒鸭和鲑鱼），以及沿纬度梯度的模式检查，我希望了解并因此预测未来气候变化的影响如何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斯大学为基地，将与加拿大其他几所大学和政府机构的研究人员合作，并将直接资助一名博士后、六名研究生和10名本科生研究人员，从而为培养高素质人才做出贡献。我们研究的长期目标将为控制生活史的生理学以及气候变化对加拿大北部迁徙物种繁殖的潜在影响提供新的见解。

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.