The effects of variable foraging conditions on common murre (Uria aalge) corticosterone concentrations and parental provisioning

Doody, Lesley M.; Wilhelm, Sabina I.; McKay, Donald W.; Walsh, Carolyn J.; Storey, Anne E.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2007.09.009

Cited by 62 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…This result is in contrast to previous findings in other birds, such as common murres (Uria algae), Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae), Macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus), mourning doves (Zenaida macroura), and house sparrows (Passer domesticus), in which individuals that fed at a higher rate also expressed higher levels of baseline corticosterone (Angelier et al, 2008;Doody et al, 2008;Miller et al, 2009;Crossin et al, 2012;Ouyang et al, 2013b). In black redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros), feeding rates and baseline corticosterone concentrations were unrelated (Villavicencio et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 97%

Corticosterone Concentrations Reflect Parental Expenditure in Contrasting Mating Systems of Two Coucal Species

2017

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The period of parental care can be a demanding life-history stage because parents need to find sufficient resources to feed themselves and their offspring. Often, this is reflected by elevated baseline levels of glucocorticoids-hormones that regulate metabolism and energy allocation. During 10 breeding seasons, we studied plasma corticosterone (the major avian glucocorticoid) concentrations as a physiological correlate of parental expenditure in two closely related coucal species with fundamentally different mating systems: the sex-role reversed black coucal (Centropus grillii) with female competition and male-only care and the socially monogamous and biparental white-browed coucal (C. superciliosus). The two species live in the same habitat and share a similar breeding biology. However, female black coucals aggressively defend a territory and produce many eggs for their various male partners, and male black coucals feed their offspring much more frequently and rest less often than female and male white-browed coucals. These differences were reflected in baseline and stress-induced concentrations of corticosterone: male black coucals had higher baseline and stress-induced corticosterone concentrations when they were feeding young than outside a feeding context, and also the concentrations of female black coucals were higher during the main period of breeding when they defended territories and produced multiple clutches. In contrast, baseline and stress-induced concentrations of corticosterone in female and male white-browed coucals did not differ between periods when they were feeding young and periods without dependent offspring. Paradoxically, on an individual basis feeding effort was negatively related to baseline corticosterone in male black coucals and female white-browed coucals. In conclusion, corticosterone concentrations of coucals reflected differences in competition and parental roles and support the notion that a switch from biparental to uniparental care and an increase in mate competition may come at a physiological and energetic cost.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 97%

Corticosterone Concentrations Reflect Parental Expenditure in Contrasting Mating Systems of Two Coucal Species

2017

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“…Nevertheless, extreme ice conditions can create profound bottom-up food web effects (Buren et al 2014). In fact, there were peaks in ice area (predictor for capelin timing) when murres and Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica indicated late arrival of capelin during 2000 and 2009 (Doody et al 2008, Rector et al 2012; this study), and slumps in the timing of ice retreat (predictor of capelin abundance) when murres indicated low capelin abundance during 1984 and 2010 (Burger and Piatt 1990). …”

Section: Comparisons With Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 69%

Why timing is everything: Energetic costs and reproductive consequences of resource mismatch for a chick‐rearing seabird

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Timing reproduction to overlap with peak prey availability is vital to success for many species. This may be especially true for species that rely on one or a few prey species that exhibit strong seasonal peaks in abundance. Any mismatch must be mediated by parents that provision offspring through flexible behavioral changes within the bounds of their physiological tolerances. In Newfoundland, common murre Uria aalge breeding coincides with the inshore movement of capelin Mallotus villosus-their primary prey-such that peak prey availability overlaps with chick-rearing, the most energy demanding phase of breeding. We use colony-based observations and temperature-depth recorders to track the behavioral responses of murres to temporal match and mismatch with capelin availability. Activity budgets, daily energy expenditure (DEE) and chick-provisioning rates were constant across years when chick and capelin timing matched. However, when capelin were late, despite increasing diving effort and DEE, parents delivered fewer fish to chicks per day and reduced breeding success was observed. While parents partially buffered the effects of variable capelin abundance by reducing co-attendance time (time spent at the colony with mates) and increasing foraging time, physiological constraints on energy output likely limited their ability to maintain chick-provisioning rates in a mismatch year. Such responses could have demographic consequences if ocean climate changes decouple the timing of chick-rearing and prey availability.

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“…In seabirds, increased CORT secretion is associated with low food availability (Doody et al, 2008;Kitaysky et al, 2007;Kitaysky et al, 2010;Dorresteijn et al, 2012) and in many species plasma CORT correlates inversely with population parameters such as reproductive success, survival and population trends (Buck et al, 2007;Kitaysky et al, 2007;Kitaysky et al, 2010;Harding et al, 2011;Dorresteijn et al, 2012;Satterthwaite et al, 2012). Chicks experience food limitation when their parents are unable or unwilling to compensate for food shortages (Harding et al, 2009;Fairhurst et al, 2012a;Jacobs et al, 2013), thus presenting a direct physiological response of individuals to changes in their nutritional environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feather corticosterone reveals developmental stress in seabirds

Will

Suzuki

Elliott

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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In nest-bound avian offspring, food shortages typically trigger a release of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT). Recent studies indicate that CORT is passively deposited in the tissue of growing feathers and thus may provide an integrated measure of stress incurred during development in the nest. The current hypothesis predicts that, assuming a constant rate of feather growth, elevated CORT circulating in the blood corresponds to higher levels of CORT in feather tissue, but experimental evidence for nutritionally stressed chicks is lacking. Here, we examined how food limitation affects feather CORT content in the rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca moncerata). We (i) used captive chicks reared on control versus restricted diets, and (ii) applied this technique to free-living chicks with unknown nutritional histories that fledged at three separate colonies. We found that (i) feather growth was not affected by experimentally induced nutritional stress; (ii) captive chicks raised on a restricted diet had higher levels of CORT in their primary feathers; (iii) feather CORT deposition is a sensitive method of detecting nutritional stress; and (iv) free-living fledglings from the colony with poor reproductive performance had higher CORT in their primary feathers. We conclude that feather CORT is a sensitive integrated measure revealing the temporal dynamics of food limitations experienced by rhinoceros auklet nestlings. The use of feather CORT may be a powerful endocrine tool in ecological and evolutionary studies of bird species with similar preferential allocation of limited resources to feather development.

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The effects of variable foraging conditions on common murre (Uria aalge) corticosterone concentrations and parental provisioning

Cited by 62 publications

References 41 publications

Corticosterone Concentrations Reflect Parental Expenditure in Contrasting Mating Systems of Two Coucal Species

Corticosterone Concentrations Reflect Parental Expenditure in Contrasting Mating Systems of Two Coucal Species

Why timing is everything: Energetic costs and reproductive consequences of resource mismatch for a chick‐rearing seabird

Feather corticosterone reveals developmental stress in seabirds

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