Hormones and Fitness: Evidence for Trade-Offs in Glucocorticoid Regulation Across Contexts

Vitousek, Maren N.; Taff, Conor C.; Hallinger, Kelly K.; Zimmer, Cédric; Winkler, David W.

doi:10.3389/fevo.2018.00042

Cited by 76 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 78 publications

(126 reference statements)

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“…Our results also highlight that interactions among different aspects of the HPA axis (i.e., stress response and negative feedback) may influence stress resilience and life‐history investment. Similarly, recent analyses of non‐manipulated individuals in this population indicate that reproductive success is best predicted by interactions among different components of HPA axis activity (Vitousek et al, ). Taken together, these results imply that exploring only the main effects of baseline and/or stress‐induced corticosterone levels may not be sufficient to characterize HPA axis reactivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…The overall goal of our study was to determine whether aspects of HPA axis function predict stress resilience. We predicted that individual variation in response to the standardized restraint stressor would be associated with the response to experimental challenges because HPA axis activity is relatively consistent within individuals over time (e.g., Baugh, Davidson et al, 2017;Taff, Schoenle, & Vitousek, 2018), including in this population (Vitousek, Taff, Hallinger, Zimmer, & Winkler, 2018) and can predict the behavioural response to natural challenges (e.g., Vitousek et al, 2014). We predicted that (a) females that respond to a standardized restraint stressor with a greater elevation in CORT would be more strongly impacted by experimental challenges, and thus have a higher probability of abandoning nests during incubation.…”

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confidence: 99%

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On again, off again: Acute stress response and negative feedback together predict resilience to experimental challenges

et al. 2019

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Individuals often vary markedly in their ability to cope with stressors, but the drivers of this variation remain poorly understood. Many studies have tested relationships among individual variation in glucocorticoid levels and the response to challenges—often finding inconsistent patterns; however, few have addressed whether variation in the capacity to terminate the stress response through negative feedback is associated with stress resilience. While conceptual models predict that interactions among different components of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis regulation may be important predictors of the phenotypic and fitness effects of stress, we are aware of no previous experimental tests of this hypothesis. We investigate whether individual variation in HPA axis regulation is related to resilience to experimental challenges in free‐living tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). We mimicked salient natural challenges by temporarily reducing flight efficiency or increasing perceived predation risk during incubation, and determined whether HPA axis responsiveness prior to treatments predicted resilience. Females that exhibited both a robust HPA axis activation and strong negative feedback were less likely to abandon nests during incubation. Our results suggest that exhibiting a strong HPA axis activation coupled with effective negative feedback may predict stress resilience. Therefore, the ability to turn on and then off the HPA axis efficiently may be important for fitness. Our results also suggest that the interactions between different components of the HPA axis may provide greater insight into differences in stress coping capacity. A plain language summary is available for this article.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

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confidence: 99%

On again, off again: Acute stress response and negative feedback together predict resilience to experimental challenges

et al. 2019

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“…Despite the depression of baseline corticosterone in predator‐exposed males, both the lack of any overt effect of predator treatment on pair provisioning rate and the recent finding that baseline corticosterone levels of male tree swallows do not predict reproductive success in this population (Vitousek, Taff, Hallinger, Zimmer, & Winkler, ) suggest that this physiological adjustment in males had little direct impact on the early‐life experience of nestlings. Yet, it was nestlings who seemed to respond most strongly to our predator treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Differences in perceived predation risk associated with variation in relative size of extra‐pair and within‐pair offspring

Hallinger

Vitousek

Winkler

2019

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Extra‐pair paternity (EPP) is a widespread phenomenon in birds. Researchers have long hypothesized that EPP must confer a fitness advantage to extra‐pair offspring (EPO), but empirical support for this hypothesis is definitively mixed. This could be because genetic benefits of EPP only exist in a subset of environmental contexts to which a population is exposed. From 2013 to 2015, we manipulated perceived predator density in a population of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) breeding in New York to see whether fitness outcomes of extra‐pair and within‐pair offspring (WPO) varied with predation risk. In nests that had been exposed to predators, EPO were larger, longer‐winged and heavier than WPO. In nonpredator nests, WPO tended to be larger, longer‐winged and heavier than EPO, though the effect was nonsignificant. We found no differences in age, morphology or stress physiology between extra‐pair and within‐pair sires from the same nest, suggesting that additive genetic benefits cannot fully explain the differences in nestling size that we observed. The lack of an effect of predator exposure on survival or glucocorticoid stress physiology of EPO and WPO further suggests that observed size differences do not reflect more general variation in intrinsic genetic quality. Instead, we suggest that size differences may have arisen through differential investment into EPO and WPO by females, perhaps because EPO and WPO represent different reproductive strategies, with each type of nestling conferring a fitness advantage in specific ecological contexts.

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“…Specifically, developing swallows incubated during periods of time with lower ambient temperature showed a greater CORT stress responsiveness when incubating their own young later in life. The magnitude of the CORT stress response both causally affects reproductive investment (Vitousek, Taff, Hallinger, et al, ) and predicts reproductive success in this population (Vitousek, Taff, Hallinger, et al, ; Zimmer et al, ). Thus, these results suggest that developmental environment may have long‐term effects on fitness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The consequences of this relationship for adult fitness are likely highly context‐specific because the relationships between CORT phenotype and fitness are complex and context‐dependent (Vitousek, Taff, Hallinger, et al, ). In this breeding population of tree swallows, there is some evidence that females with low stress responses and low baseline CORT during incubation have greater reproductive success (Vitousek, Taff, Ardia, et al, ; Vitousek, Taff, Hallinger, et al, ). Therefore, our results suggest that individuals that experienced warmer temperatures during the incubation stage of development could, in certain contexts, have increased reproductive success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental temperature predicts the adult response to stressors in a free‐living passerine

Uehling

Taff

Winkler

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Early‐life conditions can have substantial effects on the ways animals respond to stressors as adults. In particular, thermal conditions during development affect juveniles' responses to stressors, and there is evidence that these effects may extend into adulthood. However, these effects remain poorly understood, especially in free‐living organisms. We test the prediction that ambient temperatures during laying, embryonic development and nestling development affect the hormonal mediators of the response to stressors in adults. To do so, we use a long‐term dataset of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) with records from both natal development and adult breeding. We found a strong, negative relationship between ambient temperature during early development (incubation) and an individual's corticosterone (CORT) response to stress later in life (while incubating her own young). Thermal conditions during other stages of natal development also showed a weak relationship with baseline CORT during provisioning. In a post hoc analysis, we found no evidence that ambient temperature during development differentially influenced the survival and recruitment of juveniles with different CORT phenotypes. Our results show that thermal conditions during development can have long‐term effects on how individuals respond to stressors.

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Hormones and Fitness: Evidence for Trade-Offs in Glucocorticoid Regulation Across Contexts

Cited by 76 publications

References 78 publications

On again, off again: Acute stress response and negative feedback together predict resilience to experimental challenges

On again, off again: Acute stress response and negative feedback together predict resilience to experimental challenges

Differences in perceived predation risk associated with variation in relative size of extra‐pair and within‐pair offspring

Developmental temperature predicts the adult response to stressors in a free‐living passerine

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