Increased pre‐natal maternal corticosterone promotes philopatry of offspring in common lizards Lacerta vivipara

Abstract

Summary1. There is growing evidence that dispersal is highly phenotypically plastic, i.e. that dispersal is condition-dependent. In the common lizard, dispersal has even been shown to be in¯uenced by the maternal environment during pregnancy. Juveniles in good condition or issued from mothers in good condition disperse earlier or in higher numbers. 2. We hypothesized that plasma corticosterone was the proximate mechanism by which condition and dispersal are linked, and tested this by manipulating the level of circulating corticosterone in pregnant females of the common lizard. 3. After parturition, we measured juvenile attractiveness towards the mother and juvenile dispersal of corticosterone (B) and placebo (P) implanted females. 4. Ospring of B females did disperse in lower number than those of P females. B ospring were also more attracted by the mother's odour than P ospring. 5. In quite a few cases, the behavioural response of juveniles was dependent on the interaction between the hormonal treatment and the mother snout±vent length or condition (body weight corrected for snout±vent length). 6. Corticosterone constitutes therefore one of the proximate mechanisms involved in the prenatal control of juvenile dispersal in this species. Along with other results, it is proposed that prenatal control of dispersal has evolved in order to avoid competition between mothers and their ospring.

Error management theory and the adaptive significance of transgenerational maternal‐stress effects on offspring phenotype

“…In species where there is disparity in the proximate or ultimate costs of raising a given sex, our framework predicts that the more expensive sex would have a lower threshold to respond to maternal stress given that the costs of errors would be higher compared to the less expensive sex (Love & Williams, 2008; Love et al., 2005). Likewise, in species with sex‐biased natal dispersal, our framework would predict that the dispersing sex should have a higher threshold to respond to maternal stress compared to the philopatric sex, given the reliability of the information about the future environment is lower in the dispersing sex (de Fraipont et al., 2000; Meylan & Clobert, 2005). This idea can be expanded to species with natal dispersal in general, and interestingly, to natal habitat preference induction, where dispersing individuals will select habitats that are most similar to their natal habitat (Davis & Stamps, 2004).…”

“…The consequences of maternal stress have long been considered to be maladaptive in biomedical fields because offspring phenotypes that can occur in response to maternal stress (e.g., smaller size, slower growth, lower energetic demand, higher anxiety‐like behavior) are assumed to confer reduced fitness (Sheriff & Love, 2013). However, researchers have recently proposed that maternal stress can play adaptive roles across a wide variety of animal taxa if stress‐induced phenotypes better prepare offspring for a stressful postnatal environment in mammals (Bian et al., 2015; Dantzer et al., 2013; Sheriff, 2015; Sheriff, Krebs, & Boonstra, 2010), birds (Chin et al., 2009; Coslovsky & Richner, 2011; Love, Chin, Wynne‐Edwards, & Williams, 2005; Love & Williams, 2008), reptiles (Bestion, Clobert, & Cote, 2015; de Fraipont, Clobert, John‐Adler, & Meylan, 2000; Meylan & Clobert, 2005), and fish (Giesing, Suski, Warner, & Bell, 2011). Despite this recent progress, a unified framework that both explains the selective mechanisms and allows field‐testing of the adaptive role of maternal stress has yet to be proposed.…”

Geographical variation in wolf spider dispersal behaviour is related to landscape structure

“…This can be expected when phenotypic specialization takes place at an early ontogenetic stage and/or when offspring are not capable of directly perceiving cues from the external environment. Under such conditions, a maternal link in the pathway of condition-dependent dispersal may indirectly convey information about the environment (Ims & Hjermann 2001) and, as such, determine offspring dispersal rates (De Fraipont et al 2000).…”

Maternal Modulation of Natal Dispersal in a Passerine Bird: An Adaptive Strategy to Cope with Parasitism?

“…Parents could promote offspring philopatry via parental behavior after fledging (e.g., by reduced aggression directed toward offspring after independence); however, prenatal maternal effects also are good candidates for the modification of the young's dispersal behavior in response to parasites (e.g., Massot andClobert 1995, 2000;De Fraipont et al 2000;Meylan et al 2002;Van de Casteele 2002). Tschirren et al (2004) showed that female great tits transferred lower concentrations of yolk androgens into the eggs when their nest was infested with ectoparasitic hen fleas compared with unexposed control females.…”

“…Although they would provide an excellent means to adjust offspring dispersal according to environmental and social factors perceived by the mother, the role of maternal effects in shaping offspring dispersal is poorly understood (Massot and Clobert 2000;Dufty and Belthoff 2001;Ims and Hiermann 2001; but see Massot andClobert 1995, 2000;De Fraipont et al 2000;Meylan et al 2002), and the demonstration of their adaptive value is lacking.…”