Barão-Nóbrega José António Lemos, Marioni Boris, Botero-Arias Robinson, Nogueira António José Arsénia, Lima Emerson Silva, Magnusson William Ernest, Da Silveira Ronis, Marcon Jaydione Luiz
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Aveiro - UA, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia - Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazónia (INPA), CP 478, Manaus, AM, 69011-970, Brazil.
J Comp Physiol B. 2018 Nov;188(6):1029. doi: 10.1007/s00360-017-1133-2.
Although nesting ecology is well studied in several crocodilian species, it is not known how nest attendance influences physiology and body condition of nesting females. In this study, we describe body condition and serum biochemical values of nesting female, non-nesting female and male spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) and black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) in two areas of Central Amazonia. We also evaluated the effect of nest age and nest distance to water on body condition and blood parameters of nesting females. Body condition and plasmatic concentrations of glucose, triglycerides, lactate and uric acid of nesting females were significantly different from those of non-nesting females and males in C. crocodilus, but not in M. niger. Our study also demonstrated that nest age and distance to water had a negative effect on female body condition in C. crocodilus, but not in M. niger. Female C. crocodilus attending older nests or nests built further away from permanent water bodies tended to have lower body condition. Our results demonstrate that the nesting strategy of C. crocodilus has a metabolic cost associated with nest attendance for nesting females, which appear to depend on accumulated energetic reserves during nest attendance. In contrast, nest attendance had little effect on the physiology of female M. niger.
虽然几种鳄目动物的筑巢生态学已得到充分研究，但尚不清楚护巢行为如何影响正在筑巢的雌性个体的生理机能和身体状况。在本研究中，我们描述了中亚马孙地区两个区域正在筑巢的雌性、未筑巢的雌性以及雄性眼镜凯门鳄（Caiman crocodilus）和黑凯门鳄（Melanosuchus niger）的身体状况和血清生化值。我们还评估了巢龄和巢与水的距离对正在筑巢的雌性个体的身体状况和血液参数的影响。眼镜凯门鳄中，正在筑巢的雌性个体的身体状况以及血浆中葡萄糖、甘油三酯、乳酸和尿酸的浓度与未筑巢的雌性和雄性个体显著不同，但在黑凯门鳄中并非如此。我们的研究还表明，巢龄和与水的距离对眼镜凯门鳄的雌性身体状况有负面影响，但对黑凯门鳄没有影响。照料较老巢穴或距离永久性水体较远的巢穴的眼镜凯门鳄雌性个体往往身体状况较差。我们的研究结果表明，眼镜凯门鳄的筑巢策略对正在筑巢的雌性个体而言，存在与护巢行为相关的代谢成本，这似乎取决于护巢期间积累的能量储备。相比之下，护巢行为对黑凯门鳄雌性个体的生理机能影响甚微。
