Impaired flight ability--a cost of reproduction in female blue tits

Kullberg, Cecilia; Houston, David C.; Metcalfe, Neil B.

doi:10.1093/beheco/13.4.575

Cited by 72 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Similar reproductive costs have been shown to include a temporary impairment of locomotor abilities during the breeding season across a range of organisms [e.g. whelks (Brokordt et al, 2003); passerine birds (Lee et al, 1996;Veasey et al, 2000;Kullberg et al, 2002)]. In the present study all groups showed on average a poorer swimming endurance (coupled with a slower recovery) after the breeding season, but this was accentuated in the groups that had earlier exhibited the fastest growth rate.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

The trade-off between growth rate and locomotor performance varies with perceived time until breeding

Lee

Monaghan

Metcalfe

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYEnvironmental circumstances can cause changes in early growth patterns that subsequently affect the adult phenotype. Here we investigated how different growth trajectories affected subsequent locomotor performance, and how such effects were influenced by the perceived time until the key life-history event of reproduction. Using juvenile three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus, we show that a brief period of manipulated temperature in early life (independent of food supply) caused effects on skeletal growth trajectory not only during the manipulation itself, but also during a subsequent compensatory phase. The outcome of these changes was that fish in all treatment groups reached the same average size by sexual maturity, despite having different growth patterns. However, their growth trajectory had impacts on both pre-breeding swimming endurance and its decline over the course of the breeding season, such that swimming ability was negatively correlated with skeletal growth rate during the compensation period. We also show for the first time that 'negative compensation' (i.e. a decelerating growth trajectory) led to an improved swimming performance compared with steadily growing controls. Replicate experiments and photoperiod manipulations, moreover, revealed that the effects of growth rate on subsequent swimming performance were greater when the perceived time until the breeding season was shorter. These results show that the costs of accelerated or decelerated growth can last well beyond the time over which growth rates differ, and are affected by the time available until an approaching life history event such as reproduction, possibly because of the time available to repair the damage.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

The trade-off between growth rate and locomotor performance varies with perceived time until breeding

Lee

Monaghan

Metcalfe

2010

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Nevertheless, the act of fleeing will alert the predator; therefore, the prey will have to trade-off the benefits of remaining stationary against the cost of being detected (Broom and Ruxton 2005). No matter the model, escape decisions are critical to an individual's fitness (Cooper and Frederick 2007) and these decisions may depend on an individual's intrinsic capacity to escape predation (Clobert et al 2000;Kullberg et al 2002;Lailvaux et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex- and performance-based escape behaviour in an Asian agamid lizard, Phrynocephalus vlangalii

Noble

et al. 2014

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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In lizards, males are predicted to sprint faster and run for longer than females by virtue of higher testosterone levels and differences in morphology. Consequently, escape behaviour is also predicted to be associated with sex and locomotor performance, yet these links have rarely been explored. Here, we tested whether escape behaviour is associated with locomotor performance in the toad-headed agama, Phrynocephalus vlangalii, and whether it is sex-dependent. This species is also characterized by elaborate tail displays, which we examined as a potential pursuit-deterrent signal. Tail waves were performed by a very small proportion (2/58, 3 %) of individuals during predatory trials, suggesting that tail signalling functions exclusively in a social context. To understand the relationships between sex, escape behaviour and performance, we first measured escape behaviour (flight initiation distance, flight distance-measured differently compared to previous studies of lizard escape behaviour, and refuge use) in the field before measuring maximal sprint speed and endurance on the same individuals in the laboratory. Flight initiation distance did not differ between the sexes and was unrelated to performance capacity (maximal endurance and sprint speed) but was positively related to body size with larger individuals fleeing earlier. Males fled farther than females, but flight distance was also unrelated to either endurance or sprint speed. Interestingly, faster females were less likely to enter a refuge than slower females, whereas sprint speed and the probability of taking refuge were unrelated for males. Our results suggest that when males and females are not obviously sexually dimorphic, they are more likely to overlap in escape tactics.

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“…Most studies to date have focused on relatively simple models of resource-based allocation trade-offs (e.g. Gustafsson et al, 1994;Houston et al, 1995;Oppliger et al, 1997;Veasey et al, 2001;Kullberg et al, 2002;Martin et al, 2003), in which energy and/or nutrients are reallocated to egg production and away from other physiological functions with negative consequences. More recently, it has been suggested that costs of reproduction might also be caused by the reproductive process itself or the regulatory (hormonal) mechanisms underlying reproduction (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hematological changes associated with egg production: estrogen dependence and repeatability

Wagner

Prevolsek

Wynne‐Edwards

et al. 2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYThe ʻcost of reproductionʼ (i.e. the trade-off between current reproduction and future fecundity and/or survival) is a central concept in life history theory, yet we still know very little about the physiological mechanisms underlying such costs. Recently it has been recognized that reproduction itself or the regulatory (hormonal) mechanisms underlying reproduction might result in ʻcostsʼ (cf. resource-allocation based mechanisms). As one example, it has been suggested that the decrease in hematocrit observed during egg production in birds might be due to antagonistic pleiotropic effects of estrogens. This could generate costs of reproduction by reducing oxygen-carrying capacity during subsequent aerobically demanding stages such as chickprovisioning. Here we show that the reduction in hematocrit during egg-laying is dependent on receptor-mediated actions of endogenous estrogens: blocking estrogen receptors using the anti-estrogen tamoxifen reduces the decrease in hematocrit during egg production in female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) such that hematocrit at the 1-egg stage is not significantly different than pre-breeding, baseline values. We also show that both pre-breeding hematocrit and the decrease in hematocrit associated with egg production are repeatable, and that females with the highest pre-breeding hematocrit values tend to show the largest decreases in hematocrit during egg production. We suggest that hematological changes during egg production are a good candidate mechanism for a regulatory-network based trade-off involving antagonistic pleiotropic effects of estrogens, which otherwise have essential reproductive functions.

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Impaired flight ability--a cost of reproduction in female blue tits

Cited by 72 publications

References 46 publications

The trade-off between growth rate and locomotor performance varies with perceived time until breeding

The trade-off between growth rate and locomotor performance varies with perceived time until breeding

Sex- and performance-based escape behaviour in an Asian agamid lizard, Phrynocephalus vlangalii

Hematological changes associated with egg production: estrogen dependence and repeatability

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