Across time and space: Hormonal variation across temporal and spatial scales in relation to nesting success

Grant, Avery R.; Baldan, Davide; Kimball, Melanie G.; Malisch, Jessica L.; Ouyang, Jenny Q.

doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2020.113462

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 127 publications

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“…A total of three studies, thus far, documented within-individual variation in GC plasticity and its repeatability. Indeed, GC plasticity was found to be moderately repeatable in captive house sparrows across breeding stages (in a time series of GC concentrations after stressor exposure; R = 0.50; Grant et al 2020 ) and across environmental challenges (in baseline GCs in response to wind, heat, and food unpredictability; R = 0.61; Baldan et al 2021 ). Also, wild male chimpanzees had a repeatable diel GC plasticity across years (in urinary cortisol metabolites; R = 0.31; Sonnweber et al 2018 ).…”

Section: Do Individuals Differ In Gc Plasticity Over Time and Across ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Glucocorticoid Plasticity Using Reaction Norm Approaches: There Still is So Much to Discover!

Malkoc

Mentesana

Casagrande

et al. 2021

Integrative and Comparative Biology

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Synopsis Hormones are highly responsive internal signals that help organisms adjust their phenotype to fluctuations in environmental and internal conditions. Our knowledge of the causes and consequences of variation in circulating hormone concentrations has improved greatly in the past. However, this knowledge often comes from population-level studies, which generally tend to make the flawed assumption that all individuals respond in the same way to environmental changes. Here, we advocate that we can vastly expand our understanding of the ecology and evolution of hormonal traits once we acknowledge the existence of individual differences by quantifying hormonal plasticity at the individual level, where selection acts. In this review, we use glucocorticoid (GC) hormones as examples of highly plastic endocrine traits that interact intimately with energy metabolism but also with other organismal traits like behavior and physiology. First, we highlight the insights gained by repeatedly assessing an individual's GC concentrations along a gradient of environmental or internal conditions using a “reaction norm approach.” This study design should be followed by a hierarchical statistical partitioning of the total endocrine variance into the among-individual component (individual differences in average hormone concentrations, i.e., in the intercept of the reaction norm) and the residual (within-individual) component. The latter is ideally further partitioned by estimating more precisely hormonal plasticity (i.e., the slope of the reaction norm), which allows to test whether individuals differ in the degree of hormonal change along the gradient. Second, we critically review the published evidence for GC variation, focusing mostly on among- and within-individual levels, finding only a good handful of studies that used repeated-measures designs and random regression statistics to investigate GC plasticity. These studies indicate that individuals can differ in both the intercept and the slope of their GC reaction norm to a known gradient. Third, we suggest rewarding avenues for future work on hormonal reaction norms, for example to uncover potential costs and trade-offs associated with GC plasticity, to test whether GC plasticity varies when an individual's reaction norm is repeatedly assessed along the same gradient, whether reaction norms in GCs covary with those in other traits like behavior and fitness (generating multivariate plasticity), or to quantify GC reaction norms along multiple external and internal gradients that act simultaneously (leading to multidimensional plasticity). Throughout this review, we emphasize the power that reaction norm approaches offer for resolving unanswered questions in ecological and evolutionary endocrinology.

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Section: Do Individuals Differ In Gc Plasticity Over Time and Across ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Glucocorticoid Plasticity Using Reaction Norm Approaches: There Still is So Much to Discover!

Malkoc

Mentesana

Casagrande

et al. 2021

Integrative and Comparative Biology

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“…So far, studies in the wild that measured blood glucocorticoid concentrations focused on aspects of the ‘stress-response’, i.e. the increase from baseline to stress-induced concentrations [ 40 , 41 ]. Some studies in captivity documented individual variation in circulating baseline glucocorticoid plasticity (in birds; [ 42 , 43 ]), while others found individual differences only in glucocorticoid elevation (in water-borne hormone samples of fishes; [ 44 , 45 ]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great tits differ in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to spring temperature

2022

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Fluctuations in environmental temperature affect energy metabolism and stimulate the expression of reversible phenotypic plasticity in vertebrate behavioural and physiological traits. Changes in circulating concentrations of glucocorticoid hormones often underpin environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity. Ongoing climate change is predicted to increase fluctuations in environmental temperature globally, making it imperative to determine the standing phenotypic variation in glucocorticoid responses of free-living populations to evaluate their potential for coping via plastic or evolutionary changes. Using a reaction norm approach, we repeatedly sampled wild great tit ( Parus major ) individuals for circulating glucocorticoid concentrations during reproduction across five years to quantify individual variation in glucocorticoid plasticity along an environmental temperature gradient. As expected, baseline and stress-induced glucocorticoid concentrations increased with lower environmental temperatures at the population and within-individual level. Moreover, we provide unique evidence that individuals differ significantly in their plastic responses to the temperature gradient for both glucocorticoid traits, with some displaying greater plasticity than others. Average concentrations and degree of plasticity covaried for baseline glucocorticoids, indicating that these two reaction norm components are linked. Hence, individual variation in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to a key environmental factor exists in a wild vertebrate population, representing a crucial step to assess their potential to endure temperature fluctuations.

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“…The current study is one of only few to analyze individual differences in endocrine reaction norms in a free-living vertebrate population (Grant et al, 2020; Guindre-Parker et al, 2019; Hsu et al, 2019; Lendvai et al, 2015; Mentesana et al, 2019; Sonnweber et al, 2018). Repeatedly capturing and collecting blood samples from free-living individuals during a standardized time of year is logistically challenging (Guindre-Parker, 2020; Malkoc, Mentesana, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies measured glucocorticoid concentrations in the blood along internal gradients of increasing age or breeding stage, but focused on aspects of the ‘stress-response’, i.e. the increase from baseline to stress-induced concentrations (Lendvai et al, 2015, Grant et al, 2020). Two captive studies on birds documented individual variation in baseline glucocorticoid plasticity, while two captive fish studies found individual differences only in glucocorticoid elevation (in water-borne hormone samples; Fürtbauer et al, 2015; Houslay et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great tits differ in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to spring temperature

Hau

Deimel

Moiron

2022

Preprint

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Fluctuations in environmental temperature affect energy metabolism, stimulating the expression of phenotypic plasticity in behavioral and physiological traits. Vertebrate hormonal signals like glucocorticoids underpin environmentally-induced phenotypic plasticity, with changes in circulating concentrations orchestrating plastic changes in diverse traits. Climate change is predicted to alter temperature variation globally, making it imperative to evaluate whether free-living animal populations can cope adaptively. To evaluate their potential to respond to ongoing global change, we quantified individual variation in glucocorticoid plasticity to ambient temperature in wild great tits (Parus major). Using a reaction norm approach, we repeatedly sampled individuals for circulating glucocorticoid concentrations across five years. As expected, baseline and stress-induced glucocorticoid concentrations increased with lower ambient temperatures at the population and within-individual level. Moreover, we provide unique evidence that free-living individuals differ significantly in their plastic responses to temperature variation for both glucocorticoid traits, with some displaying greater plasticity than others. Average concentrations and degree of plasticity covaried for baseline glucocorticoids, indicating that these two reaction norm components are linked. Hence, individual variation in glucocorticoid plasticity to an important environmental factor exists in a wild population, representing a crucial step to assess the adaptive potential of vertebrates to endure current temperature fluctuations.

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Across time and space: Hormonal variation across temporal and spatial scales in relation to nesting success

Cited by 7 publications

References 127 publications

Quantifying Glucocorticoid Plasticity Using Reaction Norm Approaches: There Still is So Much to Discover!

Quantifying Glucocorticoid Plasticity Using Reaction Norm Approaches: There Still is So Much to Discover!

Great tits differ in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to spring temperature

Great tits differ in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to spring temperature

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