Viselkedési és fiziológiai változók kapcsolata egy vadon élő énekesmadárfajnál.

Despite the increasing number of studies describing behaviours, there are less knowledge of these behaviour's physiological background in wild populations. In this paper we investigated the relationship between health state, oxidative damage and behaviour in a wild collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) population. We defined health state as the ratio of heterophil granulocytes and limphocytes (H/L ratio). The number and ratio of leukocytes were counted in bloodsmears. Lower leukocyte ratio reflects better health state and lower stress level. We used plasma levels of reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) to measure oxidative damage. We collected blood samples from males during the courtship period and the chick-rearing period, while females were sampled only in the chick-rearing period. With regards to behaviour, we quantified novelty avoidance, aggression and risk-taking of males during courtship. There were no differences between sexes in H/L ratio and ROM levels. In one-year old males, ROM levels tended to be higher in the chick-rearing period. The correlation between H/L ratio and ROMs were significant only in females, namely lower oxidative damage associated with better health state. We found a correlation between novelty avoidance and ROM levels measured in the courtship period. The increase in ROMs might be caused by the demanding work of chick-rearing in one-year old males, while older males might have more experience in chick-rearing. Higher heterophil counts result in higher H/L ratio. Heterophils release radicals, which results in higher oxidative damage. Less novelty avoiding males might fly from a bigger distance to investigate novel objects getting close to its nest, resulting in a higher metabolism level, and higher plasma level of ROMs. More studies are needed for a deeper understanding of these patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]