兔裸皮蝇对宿主高原鼠兔生理和个性特征的影响

Effects of warble flies(Oestromyia leporine)parasiteon the physiological traits and personality ofplateau pika(Ochotona curzoniae)

摘要:

以高原鼠兔(Ochotona curzoniae)为研究对象,比较感染与未感染兔裸皮蝇(Oestromyia leporina)的鼠兔生理特征(体重、束缚下的呼吸率和心率、体重矫正的静止代谢率、粪便皮质醇浓度)和个性特征(冒失性、温顺性、探索性)及其关联性。结果表明:与未感染皮蝇的鼠兔相比,感染皮蝇的鼠兔体重、呼吸率、体重矫正的静止代谢率更高,但探索性更低,而心率、皮质醇浓度、冒失性、温顺性等均没有显著差异。在未感染皮蝇的鼠兔群体中,体重与温顺性、心率与皮质醇浓度均呈弱显著的正相关。在感染皮蝇的鼠兔群体中,体重与心率和探索性分别呈显著和弱显著的负相关;体重矫正的静止代谢率与呼吸率和温顺性分别呈显著和弱显著的正相关。说明寄生虫可以操纵宿主的能量收支平衡,寄生使得宿主静止代谢率提高、能量消耗增加,同时探索性降低、能量消耗减少。研究结果为构建寄生状态-生理-行为的共变异网络提供了科学依据。

Abstract:

In this study,plateau pika(Ochotona curzoniae) was used to test the variation in physiological traits(body mass,respiratory rate and heart rate,mass-corrected resting metabolic rate,fecal cortisol concentration)and personality(boldness,docility,exploration),as well as their correlations with and without warble flies(Oestromyia leporine)infection.The results showed that the infected colony had significantly higher body mass respiratory rate and mass-corrected resting metabolic rate,but lower exploration,compared with that of uninfected colony.However,there were no significant differences in heart rate,fecal cortisol concentration,boldness and docility between infected and uninfected colonies.In the uninfected colony,there were weak positive correlation between body mass and docility,as well as between heart rate and fecal cortisol concentration.In the infected colony,body mass was negatively correlated with exploration or heart rate,while mass-corrected resting metabolic rate was positively correlated with respiratory rate and docility.Our results suggest that parasites could affect their host energy balance,i.e.increase metabolism and energy consumption,while decrease the exploration and energy expenditure of the hosts.This study provides a scientific basis for constructing the parasitism-physiology-behavior covariation network.