Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology & Biodiversity and Departamento de Ecología, Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Zoology (Jena). 2010 Dec;113(6):373-7. doi: 10.1016/j.zool.2010.08.002. Epub 2010 Oct 29.
The flexibility of digestive traits characterizes a standard model of physiological flexibility, demonstrating that animals adjust their digestive attributes in order to maximize overall energy return. Using an intraspecific experimental study, we evaluated the amount of flexibility in digestive tract mass and length in individuals from field mouse populations inhabiting semi-arid and temperate rain forest habitats and acclimated for six months to diets of different qualities. In accordance with the predictions of the theory of digestion, we observed a highly significant relationship between dietary variability and digestive flexibility in both specific digestive chambers and in the total digestive tract mass and length. Specifically, we found higher digestive plasticity in response to diet quality in rodents inhabiting southern temperate ecosystems with higher dietary variability in comparison to individuals from northern semi-arid habitats.
消化特征的灵活性体现了生理灵活性的标准模型，表明动物会调整其消化属性，以最大限度地提高整体能量回报。通过一项种内实验研究，我们评估了生活在半干旱和温带雨林栖息地的田鼠种群个体在适应不同质量的饮食六个月后，其消化道质量和长度的灵活性程度。根据消化理论的预测，我们在特定的消化腔以及整个消化道质量和长度方面都观察到饮食变异性与消化灵活性之间存在高度显著的关系。具体而言，我们发现，与来自北方半干旱栖息地的个体相比，生活在南部温带生态系统中的啮齿动物对饮食质量的消化可塑性更高，因为它们的饮食变异性更高。
