No abstract

This version available http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/7671/ NERC has developed NORA to enable users to access research outputs wholly or partially funded by NERC. Copyright and other rights for material on this site are retained by the authors and/or other rights owners. Users should read the terms and conditions of use of this material at http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/policies.html#access This document is the author's final manuscript version of the journal article, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer review process. Some differences between this and the publisher's version remain. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from this article. www.elsevier.comContact CEH NORA team at nora@ceh.ac.ukThe NERC and CEH trade marks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. Wilson et al. 1994;Réale et al. 2007). Notwithstanding a certain lack of consensus in terminology, the evolution of these analogues of human personality has evoked considerable scientific interest. Among the questions raised are by which mechanisms behavioural syndromes are inherited, how the variation is maintained, which circumstances benefit different complex phenotypes, and what are the costs and benefits of limited plasticity imposed by more or less fixed trait associations (DeWitt et al. 1998;Koolhaas et al. 1999;Sih et al. 2004; Dingemanse and Réale 2005;McElreath et al. 2007;Réale et al. 2007;Wolf et al. 2007). Furthermore, in the barn owl (Tyto Alba) melanin-based colouration is associated with several behavioural, morphological and physiological characteristics that have been linked to stress coping ability (Almasi et al. 2008).Based on observations that HR and LR trout differed in melanin pigmentation our hypothesis was that spotted fish, in the closely related specie Atlantic salmon (Salmo Salar), 5 would show a lower cortisol reponse to stress when compared to a non-spotted group of individuals. Furthermore, several documented changes in the behaviour of the two trout lines made us predict that also behaviour would differ between groups of spotted and non-spotted fish. The main focus of this study was therefore to test the hypothesis that there exist an association between melanin-based pigmentation and hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal (HPIaxis) reactivity in salmonid fish. Furthermore, we tested the prediction that behavioural differences are present in two groups of fish chosen divergently on melanin pigmentation. Materials and methods Quantification of melanin-based colorationIn the studies described below, photographs of experimental fish were captured with a Canon EOS 450D digital camera and transferred to a computer for further analyses of melanin-based coloration. Prior to photography, each fish were sedated in 200 mg/l MS-222 and placed adjacent to a measuring tape with millimetre resolution, allowing for an accurate estimation of the area where spots were counted. The d...

In the current study, mature female Atlantic salmon Salmo salar were given intraperitoneal cortisol implants with the purpose of elucidating potentially detrimental effects on offspring survival, growth, morphological development and also the ability of prenatally stressed offspring to cope with an environmental stressor, typified by a period of mild hyperthermia. Augmented levels of maternal cortisol inflicted a range of progeny somatic parameters, as reflected in increased mortality, reduced fork length and mass, diminished yolk-sac volume, decelerated yolk-sac utilization and, to some extent, enhanced prevalence of morphological malformations. The most pronounced consequences on offspring performance were demonstrated in specimens exposed to both enhanced prenatal cortisol and a subsequent episode of hyperthermia. This accentuates the importance of knowledge on how the maternal endocrinological state during gametogenesis may impinge on offspring characters in farmed Atlantic salmon, and further substantiates the necessity of incorporating maternal effects when evaluating rearing conditions and animal welfare in commercial aquaculture.

No abstract

No abstract

1. The level of corticosterone in fertilised eggs from hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) was manipulated experimentally to elucidate whether stress in laying hens is harmful to the chicks, as manifested by impaired survival and reduced growth, and whether bilateral asymmetry may represent an indicator of environmental stress in poultry. 2. Three hundred and fifty eggs were randomly divided into 4 groups; 1. untreated, 2. control, 3. 10 ng corticosterone/ml and 4. 20 ng corticosterone/ml. Each of the eggs in groups 2, 3 and 4 were injected with 100 microl ethanol-saline solution (25% ethanol in saline) containing 0, 0.6 and 1.2 microg corticosterone, respectively. After the injections, the final concentration of ethanol in the egg (albumen and yolk) was 0.03%, and the concentration of added corticosterone was 0, 10 and 20 ng/ml, respectively, in groups 2, 3 and 4. All the eggs were treated on developmental d 1. 3. Corticosterone injections resulted in greater embryonic mortality, earlier termination of foetal development and reduced growth. Moreover, chicks developing in eggs with an elevated concentration of corticosterone displayed reduced developmental stability as evidenced by increased fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in tarsus length. 4. In conclusion, an increased concentration of corticosterone in the egg was detrimental to survival and growth of the chicks. Prenatal stress also generated bilateral asymmetry, and illustrates the potential application of FA as an indicator of environmental stress in poultry.

Øverli, Øyvind. 2008 Behavioral plasticity in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with divergent coping styles: When doves become hawks. Hormones and Behavior, 54 (4 In fish, selection for divergent post-stress plasma cortisol levels in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) has yielded a low (LR) and a high responsive (HR) strain. A suite of behavioural traits is associated with this physiological difference, with LR (proactive) fish feeding more rapidly after transfer to a new environment and being socially dominant over HR (reactive) fish. Following transport from the UK toNorway, a switch in behavioural profile occurred in trout from the 3 rd generation; HR fish regained feeding sooner than LR fish in a novel environment and became dominant in size matched HR-LR pairs. One year after transport, HR fish still fed sooner, but no difference in social dominance was found. Among offspring of transported fish, no differences in feeding were observed, but as in pre-transported 3 rd generation fish, HR fish lost fights for social dominance against size matched LR opponents. Transported fish and their offspring retained their distinctive physiological profile throughout the study; HR fish showed consistently higher post-stress cortisol levels at all sampling points. Altered risk taking and social dominance immediately after transport may be explained by the fact that HR fish lost more body mass during transport than did LR fish. These data demonstrate that some behavioural components of stress coping styles can be modified by experience, whereas behavioural plasticity is limited by genetic effects determining social position early in life story.

Genetic correlations between reproduction and production traits were estimated in swine. Reproduction traits investigated were age at first service (AFS), number of live-born piglets in the first litter (NBA1), interval from weaning to first service after first litter (WTS1), number of live-born piglets in the second litter (NBA2), and interval from weaning to first service after the second litter (WTS2). Females generating the data were Norwegian Landrace born in nucleus herds between 1990 and 2000, and the number of records ranged from 13,792 to 56,932. Genetic correlations were estimated among the main production traits in the breeding goal: adjusted age at 100 kg live weight (A100), percentage of lean meat content (LMC), individual feed consumption from 25 to 100 kg (FC), and bacon side quality (BSQ). Average adjusted backfat thickness (BF) was included as a production trait. The A100 and BF traits were recorded on gilts on-farm with 190,454 records, whereas LMC, BSQ, and FC were recorded on-station with the number of records ranging from 12,487 to 12,992. Analyses were carried out with a multivariate animal model using average information restricted maximum likelihood procedures by first running each reproduction trait with A100 and BF, followed by each reproduction trait with LMC, BSQ, and FC. Average heritabilities for reproduction traits were as follows: AFS (0.38), NBA1 (0.11), WTS1 (0.06), NBA2 (0.12), and WTS2 (0.03); and for production traits: A100 (0.30), BF (0.44), FC (0.22), LMC (0.58), and BSQ (0.23). The highest genetic correlation was estimated between A100 and AFS (r(g)= 0.68), also resulting in a positive genetic correlation between FC and AFS. Growth (A100) was negatively (i.e., unfavorably) genetically correlated to NBA1 and NBA2 (r(g) = 0.60 and rg = 0.42 respectively), and so the genetic correlation to FC also became unfavorable (r(g)= 0.23 and r(g) = 0.20). Single-trait selection for enhanced LMC would also affect NBA1 and NBA2 unfavorably (r(g)= -0.12 and r(g)= -0.24). Correlations between BF at 100 kg live weight and reproduction traits were close to zero; however, a low genetic correlation between BF and WTS1 was obtained (r(g)= -0.12), indicating that selection toward reduced BF at 100 kg live weight may have an unfavorable impact on WTS1.