Soler Juan J, De Neve Liesbeth, Martín-Gálvez David, Molina-Morales Mercedes, Pérez-Contreras Tomás, Ruiz-Rodríguez Magdalena
Oecologia. 2014 Feb;174(2):327-38. doi: 10.1007/s00442-013-2772-y.
Climatic conditions, through their effects on resource availability, may affect important life history strategies and trade-offs in animals, as well as their interactions with other organisms such as parasites. This impact may depend on species-specific pathways of development that differ even among species with similar resource requirements (e.g., avian brood parasites and their hosts). Here we explore the degree of covariation between environmental-climatic conditions and nestling phenotypes (i.e., tarsus length, body mass, immune response to phytohemagglutinin injection) and ectoparasite loads of great spotted cuckoos (Clamator glandarius) and those of their magpie (Pica pica) hosts, both within and among 11 study years (1997-2011). Our main results were that (1) nestling phenotypes differed among years, but differently for great spotted cuckoos and magpies; (2) nestling phenotypes showed significant among-year covariation with breeding climatic conditions (temperature and precipitation); and (3) these associations differed for cuckoos and magpies for some phenotypic traits. As the average temperature at the beginning of the breeding season (April) increased, body mass and tarsus length increased only for cuckoos, but not for magpie hosts, while immune response decreased in both species. Finally, (4) the strength of the within-year relationships between the probability of ectoparasitism by Carnus hemapterus flies and laying date (used as an estimate of the within-year variation in climatic conditions) was negatively affected by the annual accumulated precipitation in April. These results strongly suggest that variation in climatic conditions would result in asymmetric effects on different species with respect to the probability of ectoparasitism, immunity and body size. Such asymmetric effects may affect animal interactions in general and those of brood parasites and their hosts in particular.
气候条件通过对资源可利用性的影响，可能会影响动物重要的生活史策略及其权衡，以及它们与寄生虫等其他生物的相互作用。这种影响可能取决于特定物种的发育途径，即使在具有相似资源需求的物种之间（例如，鸟类巢寄生者及其宿主）也存在差异。在这里，我们探讨了环境气候条件与大斑凤头鹃（Clamator glandarius）及其喜鹊（Pica pica）宿主的雏鸟表型（即跗跖长度、体重、对植物血凝素注射的免疫反应）和体外寄生虫负荷之间的协变程度，研究时间跨度为11个年份（1997 - 2011年），包括年份内和年份间的情况。我们的主要结果是：（1）雏鸟表型在不同年份存在差异，但大斑凤头鹃和喜鹊的差异不同；（2）雏鸟表型在年份间与繁殖气候条件（温度和降水）呈现显著的协变；（3）对于某些表型特征，杜鹃和喜鹊的这些关联有所不同。随着繁殖季节开始时（4月）的平均温度升高，只有杜鹃的体重和跗跖长度增加，而喜鹊宿主则没有，同时两个物种的免疫反应均下降。最后，（4）4月的年累计降水量对肉蝇体外寄生概率与产卵日期之间（用作年份内气候条件变化的估计）的年内关系强度产生负面影响。这些结果强烈表明，气候条件的变化会对不同物种在体外寄生概率、免疫力和体型方面产生不对称影响。这种不对称影响可能总体上影响动物间的相互作用，尤其会影响巢寄生者及其宿主之间的相互作用。
