To change or not to change experimenters: caveats for repeated behavioural and physiological measures in Montagu's harrier

Rabdeau, Juliette; Badenhausser, Isabelle; Moreau, Jérôme; Bretagnolle, Vincent; Monceau, Karine

doi:10.1111/jav.02160

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…Thus, in accordance with the “brood value hypothesis,” individuals in age class 1 showed the strongest GC response in their stress response to our standardized stress protocol. However, it remains unclear whether the reduced stress response in individuals in age classes 2 and 3 was due to aging effects or if these individuals were less sensitive to capture-restraint procedures due to habituation to previous captures ( Rabdeau et al 2019 ). It is important to note that these results are not confounded by differences in timing of sampling relative to breeding stage among individuals of different age classes ( Table 1 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telomere shortening is associated with corticosterone stress response in adult barn swallows

et al. 2021

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When vertebrates face stressful events, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is activated, generating a rapid increase in circulating glucocorticoid stress hormones followed by a return to baseline levels. However, repeated activation of HPA axis may lead to increase in oxidative stress. One target of oxidative stress are telomeres, nucleoprotein complexes at the end of chromosomes that shorten at each cell division. The susceptibility of telomeres to oxidizing molecules has led to the hypothesis that increased glucocorticoid levels boost telomere shortening, but studies on this link are scanty. We studied if, in barn swallows Hirundo rustica, changes in adult erythrocyte telomere length between two consecutive breeding seasons are related to corticosterone (the main avian glucocorticoid) stress response induced by a standard capture-restraint protocol. Within-individual telomere length did not significantly change between consecutive breeding seasons. Second-year individuals showed the highest increase in circulating corticosterone concentrations following restraint. Moreover, we found a decline in female stress response along the breeding season. In addition, telomere shortening covaried with the stress response: a delayed activation of the negative feedback loop terminating the stress response was associated with greater telomere attrition. Hence, among-individual variation in stress response may affect telomere dynamics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telomere shortening is associated with corticosterone stress response in adult barn swallows

et al. 2021

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“…Some behaviour might even be shaped by parental habituation 34 . Additionally, habituation might be affected by the number of experimenters 80 , requiring thoughtful planning of experimental setups to minimize observational effects. Table 2.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term capture and handling effects on body condition, reproduction and survival in a semi-aquatic mammal

Mortensen

Rosell

2020

Sci Rep

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In long-term individual-based field studies, several parameters need to be assessed repeatedly to fully understand the potential fitness effects on individuals. Often studies only evaluate capture stress that appears in the immediate weeks or breeding season and even long-term studies fail to evaluate the long-term effects of their capture procedures. We investigated effects of long-term repeated capture and handling of individuals in a large semi-aquatic rodent using more than 20 years of monitoring data from a beaver population in Norway. To investigate the effects, we corrected for ecological factors and analysed the importance of total capture and handling events, years of monitoring and deployment of telemetry devices on measures related to body condition, reproduction and survival of individual beavers. Body mass of dominant individuals decreased considerably with number of capture events (107 g per capture), but we found no statistically clear short or long-term effects of capture and handling on survival or other body condition indices. Annual litter size decreased with increasing number of captures among older individuals. Number of captures furthermore negatively affected reproduction in the beginning of the monitoring, but the effect decreased over the years, indicating habituation to repeated capture and handling. By assessing potential impacts on several fitness-related parameters at multiple times, we can secure the welfare of wild animal populations when planning and executing future conservation studies as well as ensure ecologically reliable research data.

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“…The bird was then removed from the box and held for 2 minutes with fingers around both sides of the body. The same experimenter restrained all birds (Rabdeau et al . 2019).…”

Section: Star Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The bird was then removed from the box and held for 2 minutes with fingers around both sides of the body. The same experimenter restrained all birds (Rabdeau et al 2019). At the same time, a baseline CO2 trace was recorded in the absence of the bird with the tunnel on.…”

Section: Measurements From Birds In Different Physiological States In...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wake respirometry may quantify stress and energetics of free-living animals

Rose

Wilson

Ramenda

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Quantifying activity-specific energy expenditure in free-living animals is a major challenge as current methods require calibration in the lab and animal capture. We propose "wake respirometry", a new method of quantifying fine-scale changes in CO2 production in unrestrained animals, using a non-dispersive infrared CO2 sensor positioned downwind of the animal i.e. in its wake. We parameterise the dispersion of CO2 in a wake using known CO2 concentrations, flow rates and wind speeds. Tests with three bird species in a wind tunnel demonstrated that the system can resolve breath-by-breath changes in CO2 concentration, with clear exhalation signatures increasing in period and integral with body size. Changes in physiological state were detectable following handling, flight and exposure to a perceived threat. We discuss the potential of wake respirometry to quantify stress and respiratory patterns in wild animals and estimate activity-specific metabolic rates through the full integration of CO2 production across the wake.

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To change or not to change experimenters: caveats for repeated behavioural and physiological measures in Montagu's harrier

Cited by 9 publications

References 102 publications

Telomere shortening is associated with corticosterone stress response in adult barn swallows

Telomere shortening is associated with corticosterone stress response in adult barn swallows

Long-term capture and handling effects on body condition, reproduction and survival in a semi-aquatic mammal

Wake respirometry may quantify stress and energetics of free-living animals

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