PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The appropriate structure of the digestive tract is crucial for individual adaptation to ecological conditions. In birds, the length of the small intestine, responsible for food absorption, is generally believed to be positively correlated with body size. In this study, we investigated the variation in small intestine length in the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia), a monomorphic species without visible sexual dimorphism, but characterized by differing parental efforts, which can be reflected by the small intestine lengths between the sexes. We examined the relationship between small intestine length and body size within the sexes. Our findings show that male White Storks have significantly shorter small intestines than females, despite having larger body sizes than the latter. Furthermore, we found a significant relationship between body size and small intestine length, but it was of a different nature in the two sexes. Males exhibited a previously unreported phenomenon, whereby increasing body size was associated with shortening small intestines, whereas females exhibited the opposite pattern. These novel findings shed light on the anatomical adaptations of the digestive tract in birds.
摘要：
消化道的适当结构对于个体适应生态条件至关重要。在鸟类中，小肠的长度，负责食物的吸收，通常被认为与体型呈正相关。在这项研究中,我们调查了WhiteStork（Ciconiaciconia）小肠长度的变化，没有可见性二态性的单态物种，但其特点是父母的努力不同，这可以通过两性之间的小肠长度来反映。我们检查了性别中小肠长度与体型之间的关系。我们的发现表明，雄性白鹭的小肠明显比雌性短，尽管体型比后者大。此外，我们发现体型和小肠长度之间有显著的关系，但它在两性中的性质不同。男性表现出以前未报告的现象，因此，体型的增加与小肠的缩短有关，而女性表现出相反的模式。这些新发现揭示了鸟类消化道的解剖学适应。
