Data from: Life history plasticity of a tropical seabird in response to El Niño anomalies during early life

Food shortage and other challenges associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) experienced early in life may have long-term impacts on life history traits, but these potential impacts remain virtually unexplored. By monitoring 2556 blue-footed boobies from 11 cohorts, we showed that birds facing warm water ENSO conditions (and probably low food availability) in the natal year were underweight at fledging, recruited earlier and bred less frequently, but showed no deficit in longevity or breeding success over the first 10 years. Life history impacts of ENSO were substantial when experienced in the prenatal year, the natal year, or the second year of life, and absent when experienced in the third year of life, implying that harsh conditions have greater effects when experienced earlier in life. Sexual differences in impacts depended on the age when warm water conditions were experienced: pre-natal and natal experience, respectively, induced early recruitment and influenced the relationship between age and laying date only in females, whereas second year experience reduced total breeding success only of males. Most surprising were positive transgenerational impacts in females: daughters of females that experienced ENSO conditions in their natal year showed improved breeding success. Developmental plasticity of boobies thus enables them to largely neutralize potential long-term impacts of harsh climatic conditions experienced early in life.早年经历厄尔尼诺南方涛动（El Niño Southern Oscillation, ENSO）相关的粮食短缺等挑战，可能会对生物的生命史特征产生长期影响，但此类潜在影响迄今几乎未被探索。本研究通过对来自11个同生群的2556只蓝脚鲣鸟的长期监测发现：在出生当年遭遇暖水型ENSO条件（大概率伴随食物可获得性下降）的个体，出飞时体重偏轻，繁殖招募时间提前且繁殖频次降低，但在出飞后的前10年内，其寿命与繁殖成功率均未出现显著缺陷。若个体在产前、出生当年或生命的第二年遭遇ENSO暖水条件，其生命史受到的影响较为显著；而在生命第三年遭遇此类条件时则无明显影响，这表明严苛环境条件的暴露越早，影响程度越强。影响的性别差异取决于遭遇暖水条件的年龄：产前与出生当年的暴露分别仅在雌性个体中诱导了繁殖招募提前，并影响了年龄与产卵日期的关联；而生命第二年的暴露仅降低了雄性个体的总繁殖成功率。最令人意外的是雌性个体存在正向跨代影响：在出生当年经历过ENSO条件的雌性个体，其雌性后代的繁殖成功率得到了提升。综上，蓝脚鲣鸟的发育可塑性使其能够在很大程度上抵消早年遭遇严苛气候条件所带来的潜在长期影响。