Acquisition and Maintenance Costs in the Long-Term Regulation of Avian Fat Reserves

During the winter, small birds face harsh conditions and react by putting on fat. There are likely to be costs of fattening, both through acquiring and maintaining such reserves. It has recently been asserted that the cost of acquiring fat is sufficient for the long-term regulation of fat, even if t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oikos 1997-03, Vol.78 (2), p.331-340
Main Authors: Houston, Alasdair I., Welton, Nicky J., McNamara, John M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquisition costs
Animal feeding behavior
Aves
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Body fat
Foraging
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Maintenance costs
Optimal policy
Predation
Starvation
Thermoregulation. Hibernation. Estivation. Ecophysiology and environmental effects
Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
Wildlife habitats
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Summary:During the winter, small birds face harsh conditions and react by putting on fat. There are likely to be costs of fattening, both through acquiring and maintaining such reserves. It has recently been asserted that the cost of acquiring fat is sufficient for the long-term regulation of fat, even if there are no maintenance costs. We show both computationally and analytically, that this is not the case, and that in the long term the cost of acquiring fat becomes insignificant in determining fat levels. We argue that winter should be considered a long time period for a small bird. Thus, since small birds do not keep reserves at the maximum possible level, we infer that there are mass-dependent costs to small birds in winter.
ISSN:0030-1299
1600-0706
DOI:10.2307/3546301