不同用足偏侧性大山雀的巢址选择对道路和建筑物分布的响应

Response of Nest Site Selection to the Distribution of Roads and Buildings in Japanese Tits Parus minor with Different Footedness

行为偏侧化现象广泛存在于不同的动物类群。行为偏侧性不同的动物个体响应特定刺激的行为表现存在差异,可能会影响其适合度。探究行为偏侧化与适合度相关行为之间的联系,有助于理解行为偏侧化对物种适应自然环境能力的影响。然而,目前对不同行为偏侧性的动物个体在野外自然条件下响应特定刺激(如风险刺激)是否存在行为差异仍然知之甚少。2022年,本研究在河南董寨国家级自然保护区附近选取样地悬挂人工巢箱400个,并对利用巢箱繁殖的大山雀(Parus minor)进行了用足偏侧性测试。通过对比77只不同用足偏侧性的大山雀(雄性45只,雌性32只)巢址与人类干扰源(道路和建筑物)之间的距离,分析了左偏侧性和右偏侧性大山雀在人为干扰环境中的巢址选择差异。结果表明,雄性大山雀的巢址与最近道路以及最近建筑物之间的距离在左偏侧性和右偏侧性个体之间均没有显著差异。对于雌性大山雀,繁殖起始时间越晚,左偏侧性个体和右偏侧个体所利用的巢址均离最近道路更远,但仅左偏侧性个体的巢址到最近建筑物的距离更远,而右偏侧性个体的巢址到最近建筑物的距离不变。上述结果说明,行为偏侧性差异可能会影响个体在野外环境中对人类活动干扰的响应。由于国内外在相关领域开展研究较少,本研究建议在野生动物中开展更多工作,以深入探究行为偏侧化与动物适应变化环境的相关行为之间的联系。

[Objectives]Behavioral lateralization is widespread in different animal taxa.Studies have shown that differences in behavioral responses to specific stimuli between left-and right-lateralized individuals may have fitness consequences.This suggests that behavioral lateralization may have significant impact on animals’adaptation to the natural environment.However,current studies on fitness-related behaviors of lateralized individuals mainly focus on captive animals or wild-caught animals in laboratory environment,and few studies have compared the adaptive differences between left-and right-lateralized individuals under natural conditions.Hence,the understanding of differences in response behaviors to stimuli in a natural setting between left-and right-lateralized individuals remains limited.In this study,we investigated the relationship between behavioral lateralization(specifically,footedness)and nest-site choice in response to human infrastructures in a wild population of Japanese Tits Parus minor in a rural area near the Dongzhai National Nature Reserve,Henan Province,China.[Methods]During the breeding season of Japanese Tits in 2022,we monitored their choice of nest boxes,and caught parental birds and tested their foot-use preference while feeding meal worms.Based on 77 individuals(including 45 males and 32 females)with footedness data available,we conducted generalized linear models with a Gamma distribution and a log link to compare the distances from the nest site to the nearest road and the nearest building,respectively,between left-and rightfooted birds.Three explanatory variables(i.e.individual footedness,relative clutch initiation date and the interaction of above two terms)were included in the modeling process.[Results]The results showed that there was no significant difference in the distances from the nest site to the nearest road and the nearest building between left-and right-footed males(Table 1).For females,although the distances from the nest sites to the nearest road increased with clutch initiation date for both left-and right-footed individuals,the distances from the nest sites to the nearest building increased with clutch initiation date in left-footed individuals but remained relatively constant in right-footed individuals(Table 1,Fig 1).[Conclusion]The results suggest a relationship between behavioral laterality of animals and their responses to human disturbance in the wild.Given inadequate study on this topic,we suggest that more work should be done in wild animals for a better understanding of behavioral differences of differently lateralized individuals in their natural environments and the influence of behavioral lateralization on their ability to adapt to environments.