Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Science, Gregor Mendel-Strasse 33, A-1180, Vienna, Austria.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2015 Feb;90(1):204-13. doi: 10.1111/brv.12106. Epub 2014 Mar 28.
Life-history traits in birds, such as lifespan, age at maturity, and rate of reproduction, vary across environments and in combinations imposed by trade-offs and limitations of physiological mechanisms. A plethora of studies have described the diversity of traits and hypothesized selection pressures shaping components of the survival-reproduction trade-off. Life-history variation appears to fall along a slow-fast continuum, with slow pace characterized by higher investment in survival over reproduction and fast pace characterized by higher investment in reproduction over survival. The Pace-of-Life Syndrome (POLS) is a framework to describe the slow-fast axis of variation in life-history traits and physiological traits. The POLS corresponds to latitudinal gradients, with tropical birds exhibiting a slow pace of life. We examined four possible ways that the traits of high-elevation birds might correspond to the POLS continuum: (i) rapid pace, (ii) tropical slow pace, (iii) novel elevational pace, or (iv) constrained pace. Recent studies reveal that birds breeding at high elevations in temperate zones exhibit a combination of traits creating a unique elevational pace of life with a central trade-off similar to a slow pace but physiological trade-offs more similar to a fast pace. A paucity of studies prevents consideration of the possibility of a constrained pace of life. We propose extending the POLS framework to include trait variation of elevational clines to help to investigate complexity in global geographic patterns.
鸟类的生活史特征，如寿命、成熟年龄和繁殖率，因环境而异，并受到权衡和生理机制限制的综合影响。大量研究描述了特征的多样性，并假设了塑造生存-繁殖权衡组成部分的选择压力。生活史的变化似乎沿着缓慢-快速的连续体发生，缓慢的步伐特征是在生存上的投资高于繁殖，而快速的步伐特征是在繁殖上的投资高于生存。生活史速度综合征（POLS）是描述生活史特征和生理特征的缓慢-快速轴变化的框架。POLS 对应于纬度梯度，热带鸟类表现出缓慢的生活节奏。我们研究了高海拔鸟类的特征可能与 POLS 连续体相对应的四种可能方式：（i）快速步伐，（ii）热带缓慢步伐，（iii）新的海拔步伐，或（iv）受限步伐。最近的研究表明，在温带地区高海拔繁殖的鸟类表现出一系列独特的特征，形成了一种独特的海拔生活节奏，其中心权衡类似于缓慢的步伐，但生理权衡更类似于快速的步伐。由于研究较少，无法考虑到生活节奏受限的可能性。我们建议将 POLS 框架扩展到包括海拔梯度的特征变化，以帮助研究全球地理模式的复杂性。
