Data from: Organizing effects of adverse early-life condition on body mass, compensatory growth and reproduction: experimental studies in rock pigeons

Early-life food conditions can have profound impact on adult behavioural performance. In song birds, early-life food conditions affect adult physiology and cognitive performance such as song learning and spatial learning. However, effects on reproductive behaviour other than song, such as visual courtship display, pair formation, and egg laying, which are all important determinants of fitness, received hardly any attention. In this study, rock pigeons Columba livia were raised either in a food ad-libitum or at impoverished (quality) and restricted (quantity) food conditions, in which the latter was applied for either 26 or 8 d after hatching and in slightly different severity. Their growth and reproductive behaviour in adulthood was analysed under semi-natural conditions. Impoverished and restricted food (IRF) negatively affected adult body mass, pair-bonding behaviour, courtship (males) and being courted (females), and induced incomplete compensatory growth. Further analyses suggest that the effects of IRF on behaviour could result from the strong effects on body mass, and perhaps also from detrimental effects of compensatory growth. These results provide evidence that adverse early-life condition can negatively impact on reproductive success, as suggested by the significant effect on egg production, which will very likely lead to a lower life-time fitness. The detrimental effects on male courtship indicate that IRF can affect sexual displays via other pathways than by impaired cognition as has been suggested for bird song, since courtship in the pigeons is not learned.生命早期的食物供给状况，会对成年个体的行为表现产生深远影响。对于鸣禽而言，生命早期的食物供给状况会影响其成年后的生理状态与认知能力，例如鸣唱学习与空间学习能力。然而，学界几乎未关注鸣唱之外的繁殖行为所受的影响，诸如视觉求偶展示、配对组建与产卵等——这些均是影响个体适应度（fitness）的关键因素。本研究以原鸽（Columba livia）为实验对象，将其分为三组饲养：一组为自由采食组，另外两组分别为食物质量匮乏组与食物数量限制组；其中食物数量限制组的处理时长为孵化后26天或8天，且处理的严苛程度存在细微差异。研究人员在半自然环境下，对这些原鸽成年后的生长情况与繁殖行为进行了分析。食物匮乏与限制组（Impoverished and restricted food, 简称IRF）会对成年个体的体重、配对维系行为、雄性求偶行为与雌性受求偶行为产生负面影响，并引发不完全代偿性生长。进一步的分析表明，IRF对行为产生的影响，可能源于其对体重的显著作用，也可能与代偿性生长带来的不利影响有关。本研究结果证实，生命早期的不良食物供给状况会对繁殖成功率产生负面影响：实验中对产卵量的显著影响即可佐证这一点，这大概率会降低个体的终身适应度。对雄性求偶行为的不利影响表明，IRF可通过不同于认知受损的其他途径影响性展示行为——这与鸣禽鸣唱相关研究中提出的结论不同，因为原鸽的求偶行为并非后天习得的。