Gambel's Quail, Callipepla gambelii, are gregarious birds commonly found in the southwestern deserts of the United States and Northwestern Mexico. With expanding urbanization, these birds are often found in exurban and suburban areas where they have access to food sources that may differ from those used by birds living in rural habitats and, as a result, also differ morphologically and physiologically. To investigate this hypothesis, we compared the morphology and nutritional physiology of quail sampled at sites varying with respect to land use and cover. We hypothesized that quail living in more developed areas have access to a greater variety of and to more stable food resources, and predicted that morphology and nutritional physiology would be associated with degree of urbanization. We sampled adult birds at locations in the greater Phoenix metropolitan, Arizona (USA) area that vary with respect to land use and cover types. At the time of capture, birds were weighed and chest circumference was recorded. We also collected a blood sample from the jugular vein of each individual for analysis of plasma glucose, total proteins, triglycerides, and free glycerol. Consistent with the hypothesis, birds living in more developed environments had larger chest circumferences and higher circulating lipid concentrations than birds living in less developed areas, suggesting greater access to lipid-rich foods. In addition, the areal proportion of grass and lakes was negatively correlated to plasma free glycerol (r = -0.46, p = .031), and positively, but not significantly, correlated to plasma protein concentrations (r = 0.388, p = .073). These results suggest that quail living in areas with more grass have access to less dietary fats than urban birds. The findings are the first to indicate an association between urbanization and the morphology and nutritional physiology of Gambel's Quail, but further study using more and larger samples is needed before these findings can be generalized.

中文翻译：

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简短交流：亚利桑那州凤凰城的土地利用和土地覆盖水平与Gambel鹌鹑Callipepla gambelii中血浆甘油三酸酯的升高有关。

甘贝鹌鹑（Callipepla gambelii）是群居鸟类，通常在美国西南沙漠和墨西哥西北部发现。随着城市化进程的发展，这些鸟类通常在郊区和郊区发现，它们所获得的食物来源可能不同于生活在农村栖息地的鸟类所使用的食物来源，因此在形态和生理上也有所不同。为了研究这个假设，我们比较了在土地使用和覆盖范围各不相同的地点采集的鹌鹑的形态和营养生理。我们假设生活在较发达地区的鹌鹑可以获得更多种类和更稳定的食物资源，并预测形态和营养生理与城市化程度有关。我们在美国亚利桑那州凤凰城大城市地区的不同地点采样了成年鸟类，这些地区的土地利用和覆盖类型不同。捕获时，称重鸡并记录胸围。我们还从每个人的颈静脉收集血液样本，以分析血浆葡萄糖，总蛋白，甘油三酸酯和游离甘油。与该假设一致的是，生活在较发达环境中的鸟类比生活在欠发达区域的鸟类具有更大的胸围和更高的循环脂质浓度，这表明人们更容易获得富含脂质的食物。此外，草和湖泊的面积比例与血浆游离甘油呈负相关（r = -0.46，p = .031），与血浆蛋白浓度呈正相关但无显着正相关（r = 0.388，p = .073） ）。这些结果表明，与城市鸟类相比，生活在草丛较多的地区的鹌鹑获得的饮食脂肪更少。该发现是第一个表明城市化与Gambel's Quail的形态和营养生理之间的关联的研究，但是在将这些发现推广之前，需要使用越来越多的样本进行进一步的研究。