Centre d'Etude Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS, Villiers en Bois, 79360, France.
Oecologia. 2010 Feb;162(2):383-92. doi: 10.1007/s00442-009-1482-y. Epub 2009 Nov 14.
Short-term effects of environmental perturbations on various life history traits are reasonably well documented in birds and mammals. But, in the present context of global climate change, there is a need to consider potential long-term effects of natal conditions to better understand and predict the consequences of these changes on population dynamics. The environmental conditions affecting offspring during their early development may determine their lifetime reproductive performance, and therefore the number of recruits produced by a cohort. In this study, we attempted to link recruitment to natal and recent (previous year) conditions in the long-lived black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) at Kerguelen Islands. The environmental variability was described using both climatic variables over breeding (sea surface temperature anomaly) and non-breeding grounds (Southern Oscillation index), and variables related to the colony (breeding success and colony size). Immature survival was linked to the breeding success of the colony in the year of birth, which was expected to reflect the average seasonal parental investment. At the cohort level, this initial mortality event may act as a selective filter shaping the number, and presumably the quality (breeding frequency, breeding success probability), of the individuals that recruit into the breeding population. The decision to start breeding was strongly structured by the age of the individuals and adjusted according to recent conditions. An effect of natal conditions was not detected on this parameter, supporting the selection hypothesis. Recruitment, as a whole, was thus influenced by a combination of long- and short-term environmental impacts. Our results highlight the complexity of the influence of environmental factors on such long-lived species, due to the time-lag (associated with a delayed maturity) between the impact of natal conditions on individuals and their repercussion on the breeding population.
短期环境干扰对各种生活史特征的影响在鸟类和哺乳动物中已有很好的记录。但是，在当前全球气候变化的背景下，需要考虑出生条件的潜在长期影响，以便更好地理解和预测这些变化对种群动态的影响。在早期发育过程中影响后代的环境条件可能决定其终生繁殖性能，因此决定了一个群体产生的新兵数量。在这项研究中，我们试图将黑眉信天翁（Thalassarche melanophrys）在凯尔盖朗群岛的新生和最近（前一年）条件与招募联系起来。使用繁殖期间（海面温度异常）和非繁殖期间（南方涛动指数）的气候变量以及与繁殖地相关的变量（繁殖成功率和繁殖地大小）来描述环境变化。幼鸟存活率与出生年份的繁殖地繁殖成功率相关，这反映了平均季节性亲代投资。在队列水平上，这种初始死亡率事件可能作为一种选择性过滤器，塑造了招募到繁殖种群中的个体数量，并且可能塑造了它们的质量（繁殖频率、繁殖成功率概率）。个体的年龄强烈影响繁殖决策，并根据近期条件进行调整。没有检测到出生条件对该参数的影响，支持选择假设。总的来说，招募受到长期和短期环境影响的综合影响。我们的研究结果强调了环境因素对这种长寿物种的影响的复杂性，因为出生条件对个体的影响与它们对繁殖种群的影响之间存在时间滞后（与成熟延迟相关）。
