State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, PR China.
Physiol Behav. 2012 Feb 1;105(3):653-60. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.09.026. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
In natural conditions, animals have to cope with fluctuations of food resources. Animals having experienced prolonged decrease in feeding opportunities may increase their reproductive success when meeting abundant food. Though food restriction is well known to reduce reproductive success of animals, it is not clear whether re-feeding can restore or even overcompensate the reproductive success. In this study, we investigated the differences in reproductive parameters between food-restricted and refed (FR-RF) group and control group of Brandt's vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii). For 4 weeks, FR-RF voles were provided with 70% of their normal daily food intake and then they were fed ad libitum for the next 4 weeks. Voles of control group were fed ad libitum for 8 weeks. Females (FR-RF or control) were mated to non-littermate males of the same group (FR-RF or control), and we found that the mean litter size and survival rate of F1 pups of FR-RF group were significantly higher than those of control group. We also provided a field example showing that the litter size of Brandt's voles tended to be higher if they experienced two consecutive dry and wet months than that of voles didn't have this experience. Our results suggest that re-feeding may have evoked an overcompensatory mechanism of food-restricted voles in reproductive success. This may be an adaptive strategy for Brandt's voles (with oscillating populations) to cope with the fluctuating food resources in natural conditions by adjusting their reproductive success.
在自然条件下，动物必须应对食物资源的波动。经历过长时间进食机会减少的动物，在遇到丰富的食物时，可能会增加其繁殖成功的机会。尽管众所周知，食物限制会降低动物的繁殖成功率，但目前尚不清楚重新进食是否可以恢复甚至超过补偿繁殖成功率。在这项研究中，我们研究了食物限制和再喂食（FR-RF）组与 Brandt 田鼠（Lasiopodomys brandtii）对照组之间生殖参数的差异。在 4 周内，FR-RF 田鼠的食物摄入量限制为其正常日摄入量的 70%，然后再自由进食 4 周。对照组的田鼠则自由进食 8 周。雌性（FR-RF 或对照组）与同一组（FR-RF 或对照组）的非同胞雄性交配，我们发现 FR-RF 组的平均产仔数和 F1 幼仔的存活率显著高于对照组。我们还提供了一个实地例子，表明 Brandt 田鼠如果经历了连续两个月的干湿季节，其产仔数往往会高于没有这种经历的田鼠。我们的结果表明，再喂食可能引发了 FR-RF 田鼠在繁殖成功率方面的补偿性机制。这可能是 Brandt 田鼠（种群波动）在自然条件下通过调整繁殖成功率来应对食物资源波动的一种适应策略。
