Guillen-Parra Mauricio, Barcenas-Flores Rocio, Velando Alberto, Wiley Anne, Montoya Bibiana, Torres Roxana
Programa de Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Ciudad de México Mexico.
Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Ciudad de México Mexico.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Dec 17;14(12):e70732. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70732. eCollection 2024 Dec.
Foraging during breeding is a demanding activity linked to breeding investment and possibly constrained by individual quality. Telomere length, the protective nucleoproteins located at the ends of the chromosomes, is considered a trait reflecting somatic maintenance and individual quality. Therefore, foraging effort and parental investment may be positively related to telomere length, if individuals with longer telomeres are of better quality and thus able to maintain better body condition and allocate more resources to parental activities. In the brown booby (), we investigated if telomere length is related to body mass (a proxy of condition) and whether variation in foraging behavior and provisioning effort is related to telomere length or body mass. Then, we explored whether variation in foraging and provisioning influences the chick mass growth rate. In 34 pairs nesting in Isla de San Jorge, in the Gulf of California, México, we sampled their blood to estimate telomere length, measured their body mass, and for 10 days, recorded their foraging behavior via global positioning system (GPS) loggers and their chick provisioning rate and chicks' mass growth rate. We found a positive relationship between parents' body mass and telomere length. Body mass did not affect foraging behavior. Females with longer telomeres were more prone to travel longer distances toward offshore and deeper waters than females with shorter telomeres. In contrast, males with longer telomere lengths performed more nearshore foraging trips than males with shorter telomeres. The chick provisioning rate was unrelated to telomere length or body mass, but females fed the chick at a rate 2.4 times greater than males. Females' offshore foraging, but not males', was positively related to chick mass growth rate. Our results suggest that individual quality, indicated by telomere length, is an important driver of sex-specific, between-individual variation in foraging behavior, indirectly affecting offspring condition.
繁殖期间觅食是一项与繁殖投入相关的高要求活动，可能受到个体质量的限制。端粒长度是位于染色体末端的保护性核蛋白，被认为是反映体细胞维持和个体质量的一个特征。因此，如果端粒较长的个体质量更好，从而能够保持更好的身体状况并为亲代活动分配更多资源，那么觅食努力和亲代投入可能与端粒长度呈正相关。在褐鲣鸟中，我们研究了端粒长度是否与体重（身体状况的一个指标）相关，以及觅食行为和育雏努力的变化是否与端粒长度或体重相关。然后，我们探讨了觅食和育雏的变化是否会影响雏鸟的体重增长率。在墨西哥加利福尼亚湾圣豪尔赫岛筑巢的34对褐鲣鸟中，我们采集它们的血液以估计端粒长度，测量它们的体重，并在10天内通过全球定位系统（GPS）记录器记录它们的觅食行为、育雏率和雏鸟的体重增长率。我们发现亲鸟的体重与端粒长度之间存在正相关。体重不影响觅食行为。端粒较长的雌性比端粒较短的雌性更容易向近海和更深水域远距离飞行。相比之下，端粒长度较长的雄性比端粒较短的雄性进行更多的近岸觅食之旅。育雏率与端粒长度或体重无关，但雌性育雏的速度是雄性的2.4倍。雌性的近海觅食与雏鸟体重增长率呈正相关，而雄性则不然。我们的结果表明，以端粒长度表示的个体质量是觅食行为中性别特异性、个体间差异的重要驱动因素，间接影响后代状况。
