Is Fitness Affected by Ring Colour?
[摘要] Manyecologistsmarktheirfreelivingstudyanimalswiththeaimtocollectknowledgeonindividuallifehistories.Yet,markinganimalsmayaffectlifehistoriesanditisimportanttoquantifysucheffects.Literatureonthissubjectisrelativelyrare,especiallywhenitconcernstheeffectofbirdrings.Thisispartlybecausecontrolgroupsareoftenmissing,sincetheringswerenotappliedwiththegoaltomeasuretheireffectonlifehistories.Fromstudiesincaptivitythereisevidencethatthecolourofringsmayaffectpartnerchoiceandinthefieldcertainoutstandingcoloursofringsmayaffectpredationrisk.HereweusedataofanongoingstudyofGreatTitsParusmajortoanalysewhetherthecolourofringsfittedindifferentcombinationstonestlingGreatTits(day14,n=9818)affectedtheirlifehistoriesintermsofnataldispersal,firstyearlocalrecapturerate,breedingperformanceandsecondyearlocalrecapturerate.Wemeasuredreflectancespectratoquantifythebrightnessofthecolourrings,andweusedahumanpaneltojudgetheconspicuousnessoftheringsagainstagreybackground.Wefoundsupportforapositiveeffectoftheconspicuousness,asjudgedbyhumanobservers,ofthecolourringcombinationonlocalrecapturerate,butnotonnataldispersalsuggestingthatsurvivalwasaffected.Noeffectwasdetectedonbreedingperformance.Thebrightnessoftheringsdidnotexplainvariationinlifehistorycomponents.Althoughtheeffectofconspicuousnesswasstatisticallyweak,theeffectsizeisofpotentialbiologicalimportance.Lifeexpectancyofindividualswithoutconspicuousringsisestimatedtobe28%shorterthanforindividualswiththreeconspicuousrings.Ourresultcouldhaveaconsiderableimpactonlifehistorystudieswherefitnessmeasuresarebasedoncolour-markedbirdpopulations.Colourofthecolourringswillaffectthevarianceoffitnessestimatesandmayevenbiasthemeanoffitnessestimateswhenspecificcoloursareusedinspecificperiods,inspecificenvironmentsortomarkparticularcategoriesofbirdslikeyearclasses.
[发布日期] [发布机构]
[效力级别] [学科分类] 动物科学
[关键词] Bias [时效性]
