Using energetics to link movement with individual fitness across timescales

能量是生态学的通货，也是跨越时间尺度连接运动和健康的关键变量。为了成功繁殖，个体必须消耗能量，为自己和后代获得足够的能量。在最精细的尺度上，净能量摄入量将猎物捕获过程中的运动决定与身体状况(健康指数)联系起来。在几个月的范围内，在年度周期的一个阶段进行的投资可影响该阶段结束时的能源储备，而能源学为在整个年度周期中产生结转效应提供了一种机制。在一生的尺度上，每年生殖能量投入的可塑性，特别是与年龄相关的可塑性，可以调节与生存相关的生理条件的变化，最终影响一生的生殖成功。我建议研究两种长寿海鸟在每一种时间尺度上的活动和能量消耗之间的联系。我将使用双重标记的水和心率记录器来验证使用T3-GPS磁强计加速度计作为能量消耗的替代方法。我还将使用相机记录器来验证使用加速度计作为能量摄入量的替代指标。有了这些新的工具，我将研究在短时间尺度下的能量净摄入量如何与饮食专业化有关。接下来，我将通过阻碍、食物补充和延迟/提前繁殖来控制繁殖的能量和时间成本，并测量非繁殖阶段的行为和生理成本(羽毛状况、氧化应激、端粒)。最后，我将研究(1)能量消耗的可塑性是否与终生生殖成功有关，以及(2)个体对具有挑战性的能量条件的反应如何随着年龄的变化而变化。运动生态学领域正在迅速发展，我的研究将通过开发一种范式来影响这一领域，不仅是为了理解动物在哪里，而且是为了理解它们为什么在哪里。这项研究计划将由1名PDF、2名博士和3名硕士学生进行，他们将学习田间生物学、生态生理学、北方研究、行为生态学、生物学和人口学方面的各种技能，这些技能将受到多个领域的雇主的追捧。

Energy is the currency of ecology and a key variable that bridges movement and fitness across time scales. To successfully reproduce, an individual must expend energy to obtain sufficient energy for themselves and their offspring. At the finest scales, net energy intake links movement decisions during prey capture to body condition (an index of fitness). At the scale of months, investments during one stage of the annual cycle can impact energy reserves at the end of that stage, and energetics provides a mechanism for carryover effects throughout the annual cycle. At the scale of a lifetime, plasticity in annual energy investment in reproduction, especially plasticity related to age, can regulate changes in physiological condition linked to survival and ultimately influencing lifetime reproductive success. I propose to examine the link between movement and energy expenditure at each of these time scales in two species of long-lived seabirds. I will use doubly-labelled water and heart rate loggers to validate the use of T3-GPS-magnetometer-accelerometry as a proxy for energy expenditure. I will also use camera loggers to validate the use of accelerometry as a proxy for energy intake. With these novel tools, I will then investigate how net energy intake at short time scales is related to dietary specialization. Next, I will manipulate energy and time costs of breeding via handicapping, food supplementation and delaying/advancing reproduction, and measure behaviour and physiological costs (feather condition, oxidative stress, telomeres) during non-breeding stages. Finally, I will examine whether (1) plasticity in energy expenditure across years is linked to lifetime reproductive success and (2) how individual response to challenging energetic conditions varies with age. The field of movement ecology is rapidly growing and my research will impact this field by developing a paradigm for understanding not only where animals are, but why they are where they are. The research program will be carried out by 1 PDF, 2 PhD and 3 MSc students that will learn a variety of skills in field biology, ecophysiology, Northern studies, behavioural ecology, biologging and demography that will be sought-after by employers from across a number of fields.