Response to acute stress in the Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) during the breeding season and moult: relationships to gender, condition, and life-history stage

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (8) ◽  
pp. 1334-1343 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Perfito ◽  
G Schirato ◽  
M Brown ◽  
J C Wingfield
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Corticosterone Concentration ◽  
Histrionicus Histrionicus ◽  
Males And Females

Seasonal adjustments and individual responses to environmental perturbations have been well characterized in many passerine species but similar studies in other groups of birds are sparse. Larger-bodied and longer-lived avian species have different life-history strategies and different energy-storage and -utilization patterns. We investigated the response to capture stress in male and female Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) during the breeding season on montane rivers and during moult on coastal waterways of Washington State. Females arrived at the breeding grounds in better condition and had a smaller rise in circulating corticosterone during 1 h of restraint than males. As the breeding season progressed, body condition declined in females and their adrenocortical response to acute stress became more pronounced. A potentially disruptive environmental condition, high river flow during the breeding season, was not associated with lower nesting success, lower body condition indices, or higher corticosterone levels (baseline or maximum concentration). The maximum corticosterone concentration reached over 1 h of restraint was negatively correlated with body condition in females during the breeding season. Lastly, males and females had similar adrenocortical responses to capture and handling during moult. We relate differential responses to acute stress between males and females to different selective pressures during the breeding season.

Winter corticosterone and body condition predict breeding investment in a nonmigratory bird

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1642-1652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé Montreuil-Spencer ◽  
Kelsey Schoenemann ◽  
Ádám Z Lendvai ◽  
Frances Bonier
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Residual Body ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Nonbreeding Season ◽  
Fat Reserves ◽  
Fat Score

Abstract Reproduction is an energetically demanding life history stage that requires costly physiological and behavioral changes, yet some individuals will invest more into reproduction and breed more successfully than others. To understand variation in reproductive investment, previous studies have evaluated factors during breeding, but conditions outside of this life history stage may also play a role. Using a free-ranging population of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), we assessed the repeatability of plastic traits relating to energetic condition (circulating initial corticosterone concentrations and body condition) during the nonbreeding season and evaluated whether these traits predicted reproductive investment in the subsequent breeding season. We found that initial corticosterone concentrations and an index of body condition, but not fat score, were moderately repeatable over a 1-week period in winter. This trait repeatability supports the interpretation that among-individual variation in these phenotypic traits could reflect an intrinsic strategy to cope with challenging conditions across life history stages. We found that females with larger fat reserves during winter laid eggs sooner and tended to spend more time incubating their eggs and feeding their offspring. In contrast, we found that females with higher residual body mass delayed breeding, after controlling for the relationship between fat score and timing of breeding. Additionally, females with higher initial corticosterone in winter laid lighter eggs. Our findings suggest that conditions experienced outside of the breeding season may be important factors explaining variation in reproductive investment.

scholarly journals Evidence of breeding activity of subadult Turdus thrushes in Argentina

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 149-152
Author(s):  
Exequiel Barboza ◽  
Patricia Capllonch ◽  
Fernando Diego Ortiz ◽  
Alex E. Jahn
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Life History ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Brood Patch ◽  
Breeding Condition ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
Subadult Female

AbstractLittle is known about the age at which many Neotropical bird species first attempt to breed. We evaluated the breeding condition of 515 adult and subadult males and females among four species of Turdus thrushes (T. nigriceps, T. chiguanco, T. amaurochalinus and T. rufiventris) in Tucumán, Argentina during three breeding seasons (2015 to 2018). We registered a total of 126 individuals with brood patches and cloacal protuberances, which accounted for 24.5% of thrushes in breeding condition that we sampled. Forty thrushes had a brood patch (31.7% of those in breeding condition), of which 11 were subadults (8.7%). Eighty-six thrushes (68.3%) had a swollen cloacal protuberance, 18 of which were subadults (14.3%). Only a few of the subadults in breeding condition built nests, incubated eggs or raised nestlings. Of 130 nests we found, only 3 belonged to a subadult thrush (in all cases, a subadult female with an adult social mate), one of which was successful. Further research on these patterns among various Neotropical bird species could lead to important insights into the life history strategies that characterize different populations, and how these ultimately affect their population dynamics.

scholarly journals Corticosterone, testosterone and life-history strategies of birds

2010 ◽  
Vol 277 (1697) ◽  
pp. 3203-3212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Hau ◽  
Robert E. Ricklefs ◽  
Martin Wikelski ◽  
Kelly A. Lee ◽  
Jeffrey D. Brawn
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Tropical Species ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Season Length

Steroid hormones have similar functions across vertebrates, but circulating concentrations can vary dramatically among species. We examined the hypothesis that variation in titres of corticosterone (Cort) and testosterone (T) is related to life-history traits of avian species. We predicted that Cort would reach higher levels under stress in species with higher annual adult survival rates since Cort is thought to promote physiological and behavioural responses that reduce risk to the individual. Conversely, we predicted that peak T during the breeding season would be higher in short-lived species with high mating effort as this hormone is known to promote male fecundity traits. We quantified circulating hormone concentrations and key life-history traits (annual adult survival rate, breeding season length, body mass) in males of free-living bird species during the breeding season at a temperate site (northern USA) and a tropical site (central Panama). We analysed our original data by themselves, and also combined with published data on passerine birds to enhance sample size. In both approaches, variation in baseline Cort (Cort0) among species was inversely related to breeding season length and body mass. Stress-induced corticosterone (MaxCort) also varied inversely with body mass and, as predicted, also varied positively with annual adult survival rates. Furthermore, species from drier and colder environments exhibited lower MaxCort than mesic and tropical species; T was lowest in species from tropical environments. These findings suggest that Cort0, MaxCort and T modulate key vertebrate life-history responses to the environment, with Cort0 supporting energetically demanding processes, MaxCort promoting survival and T being related to mating success.

scholarly journals Age-related sex differences in body condition and telomere dynamics of red-sided garter snakes

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1852) ◽  
pp. 20162146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicky Rollings ◽  
Emily J. Uhrig ◽  
Randolph W. Krohmer ◽  
Heather L. Waye ◽  
Robert T. Mason ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Telomere Length ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Thamnophis Sirtalis ◽  
Garter Snakes ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Males And Females

Life-history strategies vary dramatically between the sexes, which may drive divergence in sex-specific senescence and mortality rates. Telomeres are tandem nucleotide repeats that protect the ends of chromosomes from erosion during cell division. Telomeres have been implicated in senescence and mortality because they tend to shorten with stress, growth and age. We investigated age-specific telomere length in female and male red-sided garter snakes, Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis . We hypothesized that age-specific telomere length would differ between males and females given their divergent reproductive strategies. Male garter snakes emerge from hibernation with high levels of corticosterone, which facilitates energy mobilization to fuel mate-searching, courtship and mating behaviours during a two to four week aphagous breeding period at the den site. Conversely, females remain at the dens for only about 4 days and seem to invest more energy in growth and cellular maintenance, as they usually reproduce biennially. As male investment in reproduction involves a yearly bout of physiologically stressful activities, while females prioritize self-maintenance, we predicted male snakes would experience more age-specific telomere loss than females. We investigated this prediction using skeletochronology to determine the ages of individuals and qPCR to determine telomere length in a cross-sectional study. For both sexes, telomere length was positively related to body condition. Telomere length decreased with age in male garter snakes, but remained stable in female snakes. There was no correlation between telomere length and growth in either sex, suggesting that our results are a consequence of divergent selection on life histories of males and females. Different selection on the sexes may be the physiological consequence of the sexual dimorphism and mating system dynamics displayed by this species.

scholarly journals Eupelmus messene Walker, 1839 and E. microzonus Förster, 1860 as parasitoids of Aulacidea hieracii (Bouché, 1834) (Hymenoptera, Eupelmidae, Cynipidae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 87-102
Author(s):  
Vladimir E. Gokhman ◽  
Matvey I. Nikelshparg
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Host Species ◽  
European Russia ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Parasitoid Species ◽  
Gall Wasp ◽  
Larval Diapause ◽  
Host Body ◽  
Subzero Temperatures ◽  
Males And Females

In the southeast of European Russia, the gall wasp Aulacidea hieracii (Bouché, 1834) is attacked by ten parasitoid species, including Eupelmus (Eupelmus) microzonus Förster, 1860 and E. (Macroneura) messene Walker, 1839. Although both members of the genus Eupelmus Dalman, 1820 are idiobiont ectoparasitoids, they demonstrate different life-history strategies in respect to many bionomic features. Specifically, E. messene is represented by brachypterous thelytokous females which lay single eggs directly onto the host body. This species can parasitize both concealed and exposed larvae and pupae of A. hieracii, but fails to attack its primary parasitoids. On the contrary, arrhenotokous males and females of E. microzonus are fully winged. These parasitoids usually lay several eggs per host which are placed onto the wall of the host chamber and covered with a particular fibrous substance. E. microzonus never parasitizes pupae or exposed larvae, although it can readily attack concealed larvae of A. hieracii and its primary parasitoids. In addition, hibernating individuals of E. messene undergo obligatory larval diapause, but those of E. microzonus are able to develop without exposure to subzero temperatures. All these data collectively suggest that the former species is highly specialized to exploit A. hieracii as a host, whereas the latter one mostly exhibits the so-called morphotypical specialization. These different strategies allow E. messene and E. microzonus to coexist on the same host species, as a local specialist and a more or less evenly distributed generalist, respectively.

scholarly journals Life history stage explains behavior in a social network before and during the early breeding season in a cooperatively breeding bird

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8302
Author(s):  
Angela Tringali ◽  
David L. Sherer ◽  
Jillian Cosgrove ◽  
Reed Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Breeding Bird ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding

In species with stage-structured populations selection pressures may vary between different life history stages and result in stage-specific behaviors. We use life history stage to explain variation in the pre and early breeding season social behavior of a cooperatively breeding bird, the Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) using social network analysis. Life history stage explains much of the variation we observed in social network position. These differences are consistent with nearly 50 years of natural history observations and generally conform to a priori predictions about how individuals in different stages should behave to maximize their individual fitness. Where the results from the social network analysis differ from the a priori predictions suggest that social interactions between members of different groups are more important for breeders than previously thought. Our results emphasize the importance of accounting for life history stage in studies of individual social behavior.

scholarly journals Experimental heating reveals nest temperature affects nestling condition in tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor )

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 468-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H Pérez ◽  
Daniel R Ardia ◽  
Elise K Chad ◽  
Ethan D Clotfelter
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Tree Swallow ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Delayed Effects ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Treatment Status ◽  
Carry Over

Investment in one life-history stage can have delayed effects on subsequent life-history stages within a single reproductive bout. We experimentally heated tree swallow ( Tachycineta bicolor ) nests during incubation to test for effects on parental and nestling conditions. Females incubating in heated boxes maintained higher body condition and fed nestlings at higher rates. We cross-fostered nestlings and found that young nestlings (4–7 days old) incubated in heated nests had higher body condition and body mass, regardless of treatment status of their rearing parent. However, older nestlings which were fed by heated females maintained higher condition and body mass regardless of treatment status of their incubating parent. These results indicate that investment in one life-history stage can have multiple pathways of carry-over effects on future life-history stages.

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