Bloxham Louise, Bateson Melissa, Bedford Thomas, Brilot Ben, Nettle Daniel
Centre for Behaviour and Evolution & Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, U.K.
Centre for Behaviour and Evolution & Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, U.K. ; School of Biological Sciences, Plymouth University, Plymouth, U.K.
Anim Behav. 2014 May;91(100):33-40. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.02.025.
The decision to consume toxic prey is a trade-off between the benefits of obtaining nutrients and the costs of ingesting toxins. This trade-off is affected by current state: animals will consume more toxic prey if they are food deprived. However, whether the trade-off is affected by developmental history is currently unknown. We studied the decision to eat quinine-injected mealworms in adult starling siblings that had been exposed to either high or low levels of food competition as chicks, via a brood size manipulation. At the time of our experiments, the two groups of birds did not differ in size, body weight or current environment. Each bird was presented with the toxic prey while living on a high-quality diet and a low-quality diet. We found an effect of diet, with birds consuming more toxic prey while on the low-quality diet, and also of developmental history, with birds from the high-competition brood size treatment eating more toxic prey than their low-competition siblings. The effects of brood size treatment were not completely mediated by early growth, although we did find evidence that early growth affected toxic prey consumption independently of brood size treatment. We discuss our results in relation to adaptive developmental plasticity and the developmental origins of behavioural variation.
食用有毒猎物的决定是获取营养的益处与摄入毒素的代价之间的权衡。这种权衡受当前状态影响：如果动物处于食物匮乏状态，它们会食用更多有毒猎物。然而，这种权衡是否受发育史影响目前尚不清楚。我们通过操纵育雏数量，研究了成年椋鸟同胞食用注射奎宁的黄粉虫的决定，这些同胞在幼雏时期曾经历过高水平或低水平的食物竞争。在我们进行实验时，两组鸟在体型、体重或当前环境方面没有差异。每只鸟在食用高质量饮食和低质量饮食时都被提供了有毒猎物。我们发现了饮食的影响，即鸟在食用低质量饮食时会食用更多有毒猎物，也发现了发育史的影响，即来自高竞争育雏数量处理组的鸟比低竞争同胞食用更多有毒猎物。育雏数量处理的影响并非完全由早期生长介导，尽管我们确实发现有证据表明早期生长独立于育雏数量处理影响有毒猎物的食用。我们结合适应性发育可塑性和行为变异的发育起源来讨论我们的结果。
