Song as an honest signal of developmental stress in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

Spencer, Karen A.; Buchanan, Katherine L.; Goldsmith, Arthur R.; Catchpole, Clive K.

doi:10.1016/s0018-506x(03)00124-7

Cited by 293 publications

(224 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In general, developmental stress has well-known suppressive effects on sexually selected traits and is therefore predicted to decrease reproductive success ( [21,22,25], but see: [56]). However, we found no effect of developmental CORT treatment on adult bill coloration and a positive effect of CORT treatment on male reproductive success.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oral administration of CORT to nestling zebra finches increases endogenous levels of stress-induced CORT approximately 10-fold, falling within the fold elevation seen in natural stressors across other species of nestlings, while also falling within a biologically relevant range in nestling zebra finches [47]. Developmental stress in the form of elevated CORT and food restriction induces long-term effects on physiology and behaviour [13,47 -49], song learning [25,27] and plumage coloration [24], suggesting that our treatment could have organizational effects on adult phenotype with the potential to influence reproductive behaviour and success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developmental stress increases reproductive success in male zebra finches

et al. 2014

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There is increasing evidence that exposure to stress during development can have sustained effects on animal phenotype and performance across lifehistory stages. For example, developmental stress has been shown to decrease the quality of sexually selected traits (e.g. bird song), and therefore is thought to decrease reproductive success. However, animals exposed to developmental stress may compensate for poor quality sexually selected traits by pursuing alternative reproductive tactics. Here, we examine the effects of developmental stress on adult male reproductive investment and success in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). We tested the hypothesis that males exposed to developmental stress sire fewer offspring through extra-pair copulations (EPCs), but invest more in parental care. To test this hypothesis, we fed nestlings corticosterone (CORT; the dominant avian stress hormone) during the nestling period and measured their adult reproductive success using common garden breeding experiments. We found that nestlings reared by CORT-fed fathers received more parental care compared with nestlings reared by control fathers. Consequently, males fed CORT during development reared nestlings in better condition compared with control males. Contrary to the prediction that developmental stress decreases male reproductive success, we found that CORT-fed males also sired more offspring and were less likely to rear non-genetic offspring compared with control males, and thus had greater overall reproductive success. These data are the first to demonstrate that developmental stress can have a positive effect on fitness via changes in reproductive success and provide support for an adaptive role of developmental stress in shaping animal phenotype.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental stress increases reproductive success in male zebra finches

et al. 2014

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“…their offspring. Previous studies of birds showed effects of such early developmental stress on an individual's phenotype (de Kogel & Prijs 1996;Nowicki et al 2000;Spencer et al 2003;Naguib et al 2004) and survival (de Kogel 1997), but it has remained unclear whether or not such effects have further consequences for the subsequent offspring. Experiments in collared Table 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transgenerational body size effects caused by early developmental stress in zebra finches

Naguib

Gil

2005

Biol. Lett.

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The nutritional and social conditions that individuals experience during early development can have profound effects on their morphology, physiology, behaviour and life history. Experimental increases in brood size in birds can result in reduced offspring condition and survival, indicating that developmental deficits in enlarged broods have negative fitness consequences within the affected generation. To study long-term effects (i.e. transgenerational effects of developmental stress), we conducted a two-step breeding experiment in which we manipulated early developmental conditions in zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata. We raised zebra finches by manipulating brood sizes and controlled for maternal and genetic effects by cross-fostering. In a previous study, we showed that offspring condition and body size decreased with increasing brood size. Here we show that this effect was carried over to the next generation. Body size in nestlings and at nutritional independence was affected by the brood size in which the mothers were raised. Female offspring did significantly worse than male offspring when the mother had been raised in large broods, suggesting a sex-specific influence of maternal effects. These findings link early developmental stress in females with the phenotype of the next generation via maternal effects.

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“…Dur ing stress, changes in metab o lism help sup port the bio log i cal defences an indi vid ual uses to main tain homeo sta sis (Chrou sos and Gold, 1992;Wing field et al, 1998). These met a bolic alter a tions can result in neg a tive energy bal ance via a reduc tion in energy-sen si tive func tions such as growth or body mass main te nance (Chrou sos and Gold, 1992;Spencer et al, 2003;Spencer and Ver hulst, 2007;Laug ero and Mo berg, 2000a,b). Increased stress hor mone lev els are also often asso ci ated with an ele va tion in ener get i cally expen sive behav iors in avian spe cies, such as for ag ing, a strat egy thought to be ben e ficial in max i miz ing sur vival under stress ful con di tions (Ast hei mer et al, 1992;Breu ner et al, 1998;Ki tay sky et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%