The influence of different food qualities on the energy budget and digestive tract morphology of Tree Sparrows passer montanus
For comparing and contrasting the energy budget strategies of Passer montanus with different food qualities, a two-week acclimation treatment with three groups of P. montanus was conducted. The results showed that three groups, by feeding Ttenebrio molitor. Setaria italica and Echinochla crusgalli respectively, decreased successively in ingestive energy and digestible energy and had significant differences between these groups ( P＜O. 001) . Compared with the S. italica group, the group with energy dense foods ( T. molitor) increased remarkably by 52. 77％ and 52. 71％ respectively in ingestive energy and digestible energy (P＜O. 001) . The digestibility ratio had a increase tendency but did not in a marked level (P＞O. 05) and the energy reserves in the body grew. While the group with low-energy foods showed marked decrease (P＜O. 001) of 17. 54％ and 25. 67％ in ingestive energy, digestible energy respectively. The digestibility drop and the energy reserves in the body were consumed greatly (P＜O. 001). The individual energy values of three groups of P.montanus , including the body weight , temperature , percentage of body fat and water content , all revealed great differences among these groups (P＜O. 05 ) . The organ level varies correspondently: small intestine, alimentary tract and the liver weight all had phenotypic plasticity reactions. Therefore , under the living pressure, P. montanus adopted different energy budget strategies towards different foods : ingestive and digestibility energy increased for high-energy foods with extra energy tumed into inner reserves; sustained or even lowered level of energy capture and energy-saving budget through temperature drop for low-energy foods with insufficient energy gained by resolving the reserves. The budget of the variation of body energy reserves, the budget of the energy intake, the functional capability of energy-converting organs and the energy consumption and the energy-saving budget in taking low-energy foods are important parts of the energy budget strategies for P. montanus. In all, P. montanus adopts different energy budget strategies towards foods of different energy. The phenotypic plasticity reactions of organs serve as the basis of remarkable changes in the individual energy value and also the key to the success of individual energy budget strategies. Different energy budget strategies towards different foods is an important survival game for the P. montanus.
tree sparrow ( Passer montanus)foodenergy intakedigestible energydigestive tract morphologyenergybudget strategy
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