Assessing costs of carrying geolocators using feather corticosterone in two species of aerial insectivore

Fairhurst, Graham D.; Berzins, Lisha L.; Bradley, David W.; Laughlin, Andrew J.; Romanò, Andrea; Romano, Maria; Scandolara, Chiara; Ambrosini, Roberto; Dawson, Russell D.; Dunn, Peter O.; Hobson, Keith A.; Liechti, Félix; Marchant, Tracy A.; Norris, D. Ryan; Rubolini, Diego; Saino, Nicola; Taylor, Caz M.; Whittingham, Linda A.; Clark, Robert G.

doi:10.1098/rsos.150004

Cited by 23 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…This corresponds well with a previous study that used RIA to estimate Cort f levels in tail feathers in barn swallows (Fairhurst et al, 2015) but not with data available for some other avian species (Fairhurst, Dawson, van Oort, & Bortolotti, 2014). This corresponds well with a previous study that used RIA to estimate Cort f levels in tail feathers in barn swallows (Fairhurst et al, 2015) but not with data available for some other avian species (Fairhurst, Dawson, van Oort, & Bortolotti, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Feather steroid hormone concentrations in relation to age, sex, and molting time in a long‐distance migratory passerine

Adámková

Bílková

Tomášek

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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In birds, concentrations of testosterone (T) and corticosterone (Cort) are closely connected with many morphological, behavioral, and other physiological traits, including reproduction, metabolism, immunity, and fitness. The direction of the effect of these hormones on above‐mentioned traits, and the potential feedback between hormones are in general unclear; in addition, knowledge on how age and sex can affect T and Cort concentrations is still inconsistent. Our study used a novel method to analyze testosterone and corticosterone in feathers (Tf, Cortf) based on the precolumn chemical derivatization of hormones before liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) analysis. Unlike previously used methods (RIA, EIA), our analytical procedure allows simultaneous analysis of both hormones from small amounts of feathers (4–25 mg) and, thus, overcomes the problem of insufficient detection limits. We applied this method to reveal associations between Tf and Cortf hormone concentrations and feather growth, age, and sex in feathers grown during the postbreeding (flanks) and prebreeding (tails) periods in barn swallows (Hirundo rustica). There was neither a correlation between prebreeding and postbreeding Tf, nor between prebreeding and postbreeding Cortf. Tail Cortf concentrations were negatively associated with tail feather growth rates. Feather hormone concentrations were correlated in the prebreeding period, negatively in males but positively in females. Both Cortf and Tf were higher in young birds compared to older ones, indicating either an age‐related decrease in hormone concentrations within individuals, or the selective disappearance of individuals with high steroid concentrations. Males and females did not differ in Cortf, but Tf concentrations were higher in males than females, particularly during the prebreeding period. In this study, we provide an effective method for analyzing hormones in feathers in an ecological context, especially in situations when the total amount of feathers available for the analysis is limited.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Feather steroid hormone concentrations in relation to age, sex, and molting time in a long‐distance migratory passerine

Adámková

Bílková

Tomášek

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…within a few weeks following the application) on Barn Swallow flight performance. Our findings also correspond well with the results of a recent study by Fairhurst et al (2015), who measured levels of corticosterone in feathers grown after deployment of geolocators in Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows in order to evaluate energetic demands of geolocator application. They reported that geolocator-equipped birds that returned from annual migration did not appear to be handicapped due to instrumentation in terms of increased energetic costs and corticosterone levels during moult.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…those from Eastern Europe, which may be less susceptible to ecological barrier crossing, vs. those of Western Europe, or those from Northern Europe, which may be better suited to long-distance flight, vs. those from Southern Europe), may provide a clue to these effects. Such a study might also take into account the effect of variation in individual quality, for example, as gauged by the ability to manage physiological stress (see Fairhurst et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No short-term effects of geolocators on flight performance of an aerial insectivorous bird, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

et al. 2016

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Miniaturized light-level geolocators are becoming increasingly popular devices for the study of avian migration. However, the effects of these devices on birds' flight behaviour, and hence fitness components, are poorly known. We investigated the effect of miniaturized geolocators on flight performance of the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), which may be especially susceptible to geolocator deployment as it is a small (*20 g), aerially insectivorous, long-distance migratory species. We tested whether miniaturized geolocators (*3.5 % of body mass) affected short-term flight performance traits of breeding males by comparing flight manoeuvrability, velocity and acceleration of geolocator-equipped versus control (handled only) birds in flight tunnels. We used a robust experimental design wherein the within-individual change in flight performance was compared between geolocatorequipped birds (after allowing for a period of acclimation) and control birds (that were also tested twice). We found no statistically significant evidence that short-term flight performance traits were affected by geolocator deployment. Here we discuss the implications of our findings for the deployment of geolocators in studies of migratory behaviour of small birds.

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“…This might be related to the low relative weight of the geolocators (\2 % of the body weight) or because, over the course of 1 year, the birds got used to the geolocator and thus stress levels returned to normal. Other studies, however, have shown increases in both baseline corticosterone and stress response after 1 year of deployment (Elliott et al 2012;Quillfeldt et al 2012), though a very recent study that investigated corticosterone in feathers for two aerial feeding migrants also did not find any differences (Fairhurst et al 2015). Even though their condition and physiological states might be the same, there could still be differences in reproductive performance, but we found no effects of geolocator on any component of reproductive performance, not even on finer-scale traits such as fledgling mass and food provisioning rates, contrasting with the majority of the literature (Ackerman et al 2004;Adams et al 2009;Barron et al 2010;Costantini and Møller 2013).…”

Section: Effects Of Geolocator On Life-history Traits For the Combinementioning

confidence: 90%

No detectable effects of lightweight geolocators on a Palaearctic-African long-distance migrant

et al. 2015

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Tracking devices are used in a broad range of species for a broad range of questions, but their potential effects on study species are debated. Outcomes of earlier studies on effects are equivocal: some studies find negative effects on behaviour and life history traits, while others do not. Contrasting results might be due to low sample sizes, temporal scale (no repetition of the study over multiple years) and a limited range of response variables considered. We investigated effects of geolocators on a range of response variables: body condition, physiological states, reproductive performance and, ultimately, annual apparent survival for a medium-sized Palaearctic-African long-distance migrant, the Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops, for the combined study period (2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) and for individual years. We investigated response variables 1 year after deployment of the geolocator and found no differences in body condition, physiological states and several components of reproductive performance between individuals with and without geolocators when data were combined. Also, apparent annual survival did not differ between geolocator and control birds. We did, however, find effects in some years possibly related to environmental stochasticity or chance events due to lower sample sizes. We argue that results of studies on the effects of tracking devices should be interpreted and generalized with great caution and suggest that future studies on the effects of tracking devices are conducted over multiple years. Future studies should also apply capture-recapture models to estimate survival, rather than focus solely on return rates.

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Assessing costs of carrying geolocators using feather corticosterone in two species of aerial insectivore

Cited by 23 publications

References 69 publications

Feather steroid hormone concentrations in relation to age, sex, and molting time in a long‐distance migratory passerine

Feather steroid hormone concentrations in relation to age, sex, and molting time in a long‐distance migratory passerine

No short-term effects of geolocators on flight performance of an aerial insectivorous bird, the Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

No detectable effects of lightweight geolocators on a Palaearctic-African long-distance migrant

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