spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Propose a Workshop for 2011 spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Brzek, P.
Right arrow Articles by Konarzewski, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Brzek, P.
Right arrow Articles by Konarzewski, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?
The Journal of Experimental Biology 204, 3065-3074 (2001)
© 2001 The Company of Biologists Limited

Effect of food shortage on the physiology and competitive abilities of sand martin (Riparia riparia) nestlings

Pawel Brzek* and Marek Konarzewski

Institute of Biology, University of Bialystok, Swierkowa Street 20B, 15-950 Bialystok, PO Box 109, Poland

*Author for correspondence (e-mail: brzekpaw{at}cksr.ac.bialystok.pl)

Accepted June 26, 2001

We examined developmental and behavioural plasticity of sand martin (Riparia riparia) nestlings hand-reared under laboratory conditions. We created six broods of six 4-day-old nestlings and randomly assigned them to one of the two following feeding regimens, each lasting for 3 days: (1) all nestmates fed a similar, limited amount of food (FR nestlings). This simulated synchronous hatching under conditions of food restriction. (2) Half the brood were food-restricted (FR/AL nestlings), and half were fed ad libitum (AL nestlings), as in asynchronously hatched broods with differential food allocation. Under both regimens, food restriction resulted in a reduction in body mass, intestinal mass, pectoral muscle mass, fat reserves, body temperature and resting metabolic rate (RMR). However, it simultaneously triggered a significant increase in intestinal uptake rates of L-proline and locomotor activity, quantified as frequency of crawling into the artificial nest tunnel by individual nestlings. Locomotor activity and intestinal uptake rates of L-proline by FR nestlings were higher than those of FR/AL young, while body temperature and RMR of FR nestlings were lower.

We conclude that food-restricted nestlings responded actively to food shortages by upregulating their gut function, reducing the energy costs of maintenance and increasing locomotor activity. These behavioural and physiological responses were strongest in broods of similar-sized FR nestlings, which can be interpreted as an escalation of sibling competition. Thus, developmental and behavioural plasticity may be an important factor in the evolution of sibling rivalry.

Key words: hatching asynchrony, sibling competition, energetics, digestive physiology, sand martin, Riparia riparia.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
B. Ronning, A. S. Mortensen, B. Moe, O. Chastel, A. Arukwe, and C. Bech
Food restriction in young Japanese quails: effects on growth, metabolism, plasma thyroid hormones and mRNA species in the thyroid hormone signalling pathway
J. Exp. Biol., October 1, 2009; 212(19): 3060 - 3067.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
P. Brzek, K. Kohl, E. Caviedes-Vidal, and W. H. Karasov
Developmental adjustments of house sparrow (Passer domesticus) nestlings to diet composition
J. Exp. Biol., May 1, 2009; 212(9): 1284 - 1293.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc R Soc BHome page
D. Gil, E. Bulmer, P. Celis, and I. Lopez-Rull
Adaptive developmental plasticity in growing nestlings: sibling competition induces differential gape growth
Proc R Soc B, March 7, 2008; 275(1634): 549 - 554.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
P. Brzek and M. Konarzewski
Relationship between avian growth rate and immune response depends on food availability
J. Exp. Biol., July 1, 2007; 210(13): 2361 - 2367.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Integr. Comp. Biol.Home page
R. D. Stevenson and W. A. Woods Jr
Condition indices for conservation: new uses for evolving tools
Integr. Comp. Biol., December 1, 2006; 46(6): 1169 - 1190.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
B. Moe, S. Brunvoll, D. Mork, T. E. Brobakk, and C. Bech
Developmental plasticity of physiology and morphology in diet-restricted European shag nestlings (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)
J. Exp. Biol., November 1, 2004; 207(23): 4067 - 4076.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
J. M. Starck and G. H. A. Rahmaan
Phenotypic flexibility of structure and function of the digestive system of Japanese quail
J. Exp. Biol., June 1, 2003; 206(11): 1887 - 1897.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
F. Hervant and D. Renault
Long-term fasting and realimentation in hypogean and epigean isopods: a proposed adaptive strategy for groundwater organisms
J. Exp. Biol., July 15, 2002; 205(14): 2079 - 2087.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2001