Thomas D W, Blondel J, Perret P, Lambrechts M M, Speakman J R
Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie, Nutrition et Energétique, Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1, Canada.
Science. 2001 Mar 30;291(5513):2598-600. doi: 10.1126/science.1057487.
By advancing spring leaf flush and ensuing food availability, climatic warming results in a mismatch between the timing of peak food supply and nestling demand, shifting the optimal time for reproduction in birds. Two populations of blue tits (Parus caeruleus) that breed at different dates in similar, but spatially distinct, habitat types in Corsica and southern France provide a unique opportunity to quantify the energetic and fitness consequences when breeding is mismatched with local productivity. As food supply and demand become progressively mismatched, the increased cost of rearing young pushes the metabolic effort of adults beyond their apparent sustainable limit, drastically reducing the persistence of adults in the breeding population. We provide evidence that the economics of parental foraging and limits to sustainable metabolic effort are key selective forces underlying synchronized seasonal breeding and long-term shifts in breeding date in response to climatic change.
通过提前春季叶片萌发和随之而来的食物可获得性，气候变暖导致食物供应高峰时间与雏鸟需求之间出现不匹配，从而改变了鸟类繁殖的最佳时间。在科西嘉岛和法国南部，两个在相似但空间上不同的栖息地类型中于不同日期繁殖的蓝山雀（Parus caeruleus）种群，提供了一个独特的机会来量化繁殖与当地生产力不匹配时的能量和适应性后果。随着食物供需逐渐不匹配，养育幼雏成本的增加将成年个体的代谢努力推至其明显的可持续极限之上，大幅降低了成年个体在繁殖种群中的留存率。我们提供的证据表明，亲代觅食的经济学原理以及可持续代谢努力的限制是季节性繁殖同步以及繁殖日期因气候变化而长期变化背后的关键选择力量。
