Organisms living at high elevations generally grow and develop more slowly than those at lower elevations. Slow montane ontogeny is thought to be an evolved adaptation to harsh environments that improves juvenile quality via physiological trade-offs. However, slower montane ontogeny may also reflect proximate influences of harsh weather on parental care and offspring development. We experimentally heated and protected nests from rain to ameliorate harsh montane weather conditions for mountain blackeyes (Chlorocharis emiliae), a montane songbird living at approximately 3,200 m asl in Malaysian Borneo. This experiment was designed to test whether cold and wet montane conditions contribute to parental care and postnatal growth and development rates at high elevations. We found that parents increased provisioning and reduced time spent warming offspring, which grew faster and departed the nest earlier compared with offspring from unmanipulated nests. Earlier departure reduces time-dependent predation risk, benefitting parents and offspring. These plastic responses highlight the importance of proximate weather contributions to broad patterns of montane ontogeny and parental care.

中文翻译：

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实验性的严酷气候改善改善了热带山地鸣鸟的生长和发育。

高海拔地区的生物通常比低海拔地区的生物生长和发育更慢。缓慢的山地个体发育被认为是对恶劣环境的进化适应，可通过生理上的权衡来提高少年的素质。但是，较慢的山地个体发育可能也反映了恶劣天气对父母照料和后代发育的直接影响。我们通过实验对巢穴进行加热和保护，使其免受雨水的侵蚀，以缓解山区黑眼病（Chlorocharis emiliae），一种山地鸣鸟，生活在马来西亚婆罗洲约3200 m asl。该实验旨在测试寒冷和潮湿的山地条件是否有助于父母照顾以及高海拔地区的产后生长发育。我们发现，与未操纵巢的后代相比，父母增加了供应并减少了为后代加热的时间，后代的生长速度更快，离巢更早。提早离开可以减少时间依赖性的捕食风险，从而使父母和后代受益。这些可塑性的反应凸显了天气对山地个体发育和父母照护的广泛模式的重要性。