鸟类迁徙:在全球变暖趋势下的演化、调控与发展(英文)

BIRD MIGRATION: THE PRESENT VIEW OF EVOLUTION, CONTROL, AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AS GLOBAL WARMING PROGRESSES

最近几十年的研究证实 ,鸟类迁徙在很大程度上受到遗传因素的直接控制。有证据表明 ,存在某种先天的迁徙动因并涉及以下几方面的遗传调控 :(1)迁徙过程的起始、持续以及结束 ;(2 )迁徙活动量 ,即决定鸟类飞行距离的遗传参数 ;(3)迁徙方向 ;(4)生理参数 ,特别是迁徙期间的脂肪贮存 ,以及对于那些部分个体迁徙的鸟种而言 ,决定个体迁徙与否的生理参数。双因素选择实验表明 ,部分迁徙群经由几个世代的选择即可转变成完全的迁徙群或非迁徙群。新迁徙方向以及由此导致的新越冬区的改变 ,也能在野生鸟类中迅速实现。至少在以往研究得最为透彻的鸟种 (黑顶林莺Sylviaatricapilla)中 ,“迁徙”或“非迁徙”是先天性的 ,与特异性迁徙活动量相关 (尤如一时间程序 ) ,前者 (迁徙的 )已证实是由一种阈机制所控制的。一项新的鸟类迁徙理论假设 ,即使好些完全迁徙的类群 ,较低水平的迁徙活动量选择也会导致阈的异位 ,低于这一阈值就会出现非迁徙个体。因此 ,通过选择作用 ,一个迁徙型种群可以通过部分迁徙型转变为非迁徙型。这种中间阶段在现存鸟类中十分普遍。它始见于生物演化早期 ,就鸟类而言 ,可能在原始鸟类就已具备。模型运算表明 ,在施以强定向选择情况下 ,迁徙鸟类经过约 4 0年可转变为留鸟 ,反之亦然。

Studies during recent decades have shown that bird migration in general is to a great extent under direct genetic control. There is evidence indicating the existence of an innate migratory drive as well as genetic control of (i) the onset, duration and end of the migration period, (ii) the amount of migratory activity, a genetically prescribed parameter that determines the distance over which the bird flies, (iii) the migration directions and (iv) physiological parameters, in particular fat deposition during the migratory period, but also those determining which individuals will migrate and which will not in forms that are obligatorily partial migrants. A two way selection experiment has shown that within only a few generations partial migrants can be converted by selection into pure migrants or nonmigrants. Selection for a new migration direction, leading to new winter quarters, can occur equally rapidly in free living birds. At least in the species most closely studied so far (the blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla), the attributes “migrant” or “nonmigrant” are inherited in conjunction with the characteristic amount of migratory activity (as a time program), and the former are evidently controlled by a threshold mechanism. A new bird migration theory postulates that even in forms that at present are exclusively migratory, selection for lower levels of migratory activity can cause a threshold to be crossed, below which nonmigrants appear. Accordingly, conversion of a population from migratory to nonmigratory can occur by selection with a transition through partial migration. This intermediate stage is prevalent among the recent bird species; it appeared early in the evolution of organisms and in the case of birds was probably acquired from ancestral, pre avian forms. Model calculations indicate that with strictly directed selection, migratory birds can be converted to sedentary in about 40 years and conversely. This explains the changes in migratory behaviour currently observable in so many bird species in the course of global warming; in particular, migratoriness is decreasing in various respects at higher latitudes. The new theory also enables us to predict the ways in which avifaunas are likely to be restructured if warming continues; these scenarios are briefly outlined.