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Oro D, Waldrep C, Bertolero A, Genovart M. Drivers of resource allocation for breeding under variable environments in a bet hedger. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10485. [PMID: 37693935 PMCID: PMC10483097 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 08/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The evolutionary theory of life histories predicts that there is a trade-off between survival and reproduction: since adult survival in long-lived organisms is high, then breeding investment is more variable and more dependent on conditions (e.g. food availability and individual experience). Clutch features influence fitness prospects, but how a bet hedger builds its clutch in temporally varying environments is quite unknown. Using 27-year data on 2847 clutches of known-age breeders, we analyse how Audouin's gulls (Larus audouinii), a species showing a combination of conservative and adaptive bet-hedging breeding strategies, can allocate energy by laying clutches and eggs of different sizes. Results show that both food availability and age influenced clutch size and total egg volume in a clutch. Interestingly, we found an interaction between food and age on egg parameters: total volume in two-egg clutches, laid mostly by younger breeders, did not significantly change with food availability and the quadratic pattern in clutch size over the range of ages was less marked as long as food conditions became harsher. With increased food, females invested more by building larger first eggs, whereas they were more conservative on second and third eggs. Furthermore, asymmetries in egg volume within three-egg clutches increased with food availability for old females. Egg size profiles of two-egg clutches suggest that gulls should exhibit progressive reduction of the size of the third egg before shifting to a two-egg clutch size. Food availability influenced all parameters studied, whereas age affected the amount of energy allocated for producing eggs (their size and number) but not the way of allocating those energies (i.e. asymmetries within the clutch). Despite the range of factors affecting the clutch, results suggest that females can allocate the amount of resources in a clutch optimally to increase their fitness under variable environments via bet-hedging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Oro
- Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes – CEAB (CSIC)BlanesSpain
| | - Cassidy Waldrep
- Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes – CEAB (CSIC)BlanesSpain
- Department of BiologyMiami UniversityOxfordOhioUSA
- Department of BiologyUniversity of SaskatchewanSaskatoonCanada
| | - Albert Bertolero
- Associació Ornitològica Picampall de les Terres de l'Ebre, La GaleraAmpostaSpain
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2
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Brood sex ratio modulates the effects of extra food on parental effort and sibling competition in a sexually dimorphic raptor. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-02970-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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3
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús M Avilés
- Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, EEZA-CSIC, Carretera de Sacramento S/N, Almería, Spain
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4
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Expósito-Granados M, Parejo D, Martínez JG, Sánchez-Tójar A, Precioso M, Molina-Morales M, Avilés JM. An experimental test of host's life history traits modulation in response to cuckoo parasitism risk. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0179206. [PMID: 28658287 PMCID: PMC5489146 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2017] [Accepted: 05/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Hosts can counteract parasites through defences based on resistance and/or tolerance. The mechanistic basis of tolerance, which involve defensive mechanisms minimizing parasite damage after a successful parasitic attack, remains poorly explored in the study of cuckoo-host interactions. Here, we experimentally explore the possibility that the risk of great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius parasitism may induce tolerance defences in magpie Pica pica hosts through plasticity in life-history traits. We predict that magpies exposed to auditory cues indicating high parasitism risk will more likely exhibit resistance and/or modify their life-history traits to minimize parasitism costs (i.e. tolerance) compared to magpies under low parasitism risk. We found that manipulating the perceived parasitism risk did not affect host resistance (i.e. rejection of parasitic eggs) nor host life-history traits. Unexpectedly, host’s egg volume increased over the season in nests exposed to auditory cues of control non-harmful hoopoes Upupa epops. Our results do not provide support for inducible defences (either based on resistance or tolerance) in response to risk of parasitism in magpie hosts. Even so, we encourage studying plastic expression of breeding strategies in response to risk of cuckoo parasitism to achieve a better understanding of the mechanistic basis of tolerance defences.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Deseada Parejo
- Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, EEZA-CSIC, Almería, Spain
- Department of Zoology, University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
| | | | - Alfredo Sánchez-Tójar
- Department of Zoology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Evolutionary Biology Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Marta Precioso
- Department of Zoology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | | | - Jesús M. Avilés
- Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, EEZA-CSIC, Almería, Spain
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5
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Crino OL, Buchanan KL, Fanson BG, Hurley LL, Smiley KO, Griffith SC. Divorce in the socially monogamous zebra finch: Hormonal mechanisms and reproductive consequences. Horm Behav 2017; 87:155-163. [PMID: 27838360 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2016] [Revised: 11/03/2016] [Accepted: 11/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Up to 80% of all bird species are socially monogamous. Divorce (switching partners) or pair disruption (due to the death of a partner) has been associated with decreased reproductive success, suggesting social monogamy is a strategy that may maximize fitness via coordination between partners. Previous studies have demonstrated the effects of divorce and pair disruption on immediate reproductive success. Here, we used a paired experimental design in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) to examine the hormonal mechanisms that modulate parental behavior and reproductive success in response to a partnership change (hereafter divorce). Specifically, we examined the effects of divorce on the avian stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) in both parents and nestlings, parental behaviors (incubation and nestling provisioning), prolactin (PRL), and reproductive success. We found that divorce resulted in delayed clutch initiation, reduced clutch mass, and an increase in nestling CORT response to a standardized stressor. These effects on reproductive investment and chick CORT response were not clearly determined by parental endocrine responses. Divorce had no effect on the level of parental CORT. PRL levels were highly correlated within a pair regardless of treatment, were negatively related to the investment that males made in incubation, and increased in experimental males as a result of pair disruption. This study demonstrates the fundamental impact which divorce has not only on reproduction, but also the physiological stress responses of offspring and suggests that in socially monogamous animals the maintenance of a stable partnership over time could be advantageous for long term fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ondi L Crino
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Katherine L Buchanan
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Benjamin G Fanson
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Laura L Hurley
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | | | - Simon C Griffith
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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6
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Michel ES, Flinn EB, Demarais S, Strickland BK, Wang G, Dacus CM. Improved nutrition cues switch from efficiency to luxury phenotypes for a long-lived ungulate. Ecol Evol 2016; 6:7276-7285. [PMID: 27942376 PMCID: PMC5127705 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2016] [Revised: 07/20/2016] [Accepted: 08/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Cervid phenotype can be categorized as efficiency, which promotes survival but not extravagant growth, or luxury which promotes growth of large weaponry and body size. Although nutritional variation greatly influences these phenotypic forms, the potential for subspecies-linked genetic or founder effects from restocking efforts of harvested species has not been eliminated. We measured intergenerational phenotypic change of males in response to improved nutrition in three captive-reared populations of white-tailed deer. Study animals were offspring of females captured from three regions displaying variation in antler and body size as well as nutritional variation. We fed all animals a high-quality diet and measured antler and body size for two generations. We predicted that improved long-term nutrition would cue a switch from efficiency to luxury phenotype for all populations and that regional compensation of antler and body size would occur. Improved nutrition positively influenced all measures of antler and body size; however, changes varied in magnitude. Antler size was more responsive than body size. Improved nutrition also facilitated regional compensation of antler size and partial compensation of body size. Our results show that improved long-term nutrition cues a shift from efficiency to luxury phenotype in a long-lived cervid with weaponry being more responsive than body size. Compensation of antler size suggests that weaponry is greatly influenced by nutrition and is not restricted by subspecies-linked genetic or founder effects from restocking efforts related to our regional populations. Therefore, strategies to improve cervid antler and body size should include habitat management that elevates long-term diet quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric S. Michel
- Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and AquacultureForest and Wildlife Research CenterDeer Ecology and Management LaboratoryMississippi State UniversityMississippi StateMSUSA
| | - Emily B. Flinn
- Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and AquacultureForest and Wildlife Research CenterDeer Ecology and Management LaboratoryMississippi State UniversityMississippi StateMSUSA
| | - Stephen Demarais
- Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and AquacultureForest and Wildlife Research CenterDeer Ecology and Management LaboratoryMississippi State UniversityMississippi StateMSUSA
| | - Bronson K. Strickland
- Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and AquacultureForest and Wildlife Research CenterDeer Ecology and Management LaboratoryMississippi State UniversityMississippi StateMSUSA
| | - Guiming Wang
- Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and AquacultureMississippi State UniversityMississippi StateMSUSA
| | - Chad M. Dacus
- Mississippi Department of WildlifeFisheries and ParksJacksonMSUSA
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Poisbleau M, Dehnhard N, Demongin L, Quillfeldt P, Eens M. Two eggs, two different constraints: a potential explanation for the puzzling intraclutch egg size dimorphism in Eudyptes penguins. Ecol Evol 2015; 5:2827-38. [PMID: 26306169 PMCID: PMC4541988 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2015] [Revised: 05/05/2015] [Accepted: 05/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity and phenotypic stability are major components of the adaptive evolution of organisms to environmental variation. The invariant two-egg clutch size of Eudyptes penguins has recently been proposed to be a unique example of a maladaptive phenotypic stability, while their egg mass is a plastic trait. We tested whether this phenotypic plasticity during reproduction might result from constraints imposed by migration (migratory carry-over effect) and breeding (due to the depletion of female body reserves). For the first time, we examined whether these constraints differ between eggs within clutches and between egg components (yolk and albumen). The interval between colony return and clutch initiation positively influenced the yolk mass, the albumen mass, and the subsequent total egg mass of first-laid eggs. This time interval had only a slight negative influence on the yolk mass of second-laid eggs and no influence on their albumen and subsequent total masses. For both eggs, female body mass at laying positively influenced albumen and total egg masses. Female investment into the entire clutch was not related to the time in the colony before laying but increased with female body mass. These novel results suggest that the unique intraclutch egg size dimorphism exhibited in Eudyptes penguins, with first-laid eggs being consistently smaller than second-laid eggs, might be due to a combination of constraints: a migratory carry-over effect on the first-laid egg and a body reserve depletion effect on the second-laid egg. Both these constraints might explain why the timing of reproduction, especially egg formation, is narrow in migratory capital breeders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maud Poisbleau
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium ; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Am Obstberg 1 78315, Radolfzell, Germany ; Department of Biology, University of Konstanz 78457, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Nina Dehnhard
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium ; Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Am Obstberg 1 78315, Radolfzell, Germany ; Department of Biology, University of Konstanz 78457, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Laurent Demongin
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Petra Quillfeldt
- Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology, Am Obstberg 1 78315, Radolfzell, Germany ; Department of Biology, University of Konstanz 78457, Konstanz, Germany ; Department of Animal Ecology & Systematics, Justus-Liebig University Gießen Heinrich-Buff-Ring 38, 35392, Gießen, Germany
| | - Marcel Eens
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
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Abstract
In several bird species, mothers that endow their eggs with additional resources benefit from more rapid development and more robust offspring. We examined egg size and associated life-history traits in 44 species of the slow-breeding procellariiform seabirds (albatrosses and petrels). The far distant foraging of some of the species should subject them to difficult ecological conditions and perhaps delays in return to the nest. Such delays might lead to poorer egg care by the remaining parent. To compensate, we predicted a positive association of egg size with foraging zone (offshore, near pelagic, far pelagic), and both with the length of incubation shifts. We tested this hypothesis and also examined egg size and fitness-related reproductive traits. Egg size scaled significantly and tightly with female body mass (β = 0.72, R2 = 0.98). After influences of both size and phylogeny were removed, however, egg size was positively and significantly associated with both mean length of incubation shift and feeding zone (r = 0.45 and 0.46, respectively), perhaps indicating a life-history syndrome of egg size, incubation, and distance that species go to forage during the breeding season, and supporting the compensation hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- F. Stephen Dobson
- Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175 du CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), 1919 route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France
- Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849-5407, USA
| | - Pierre Jouventin
- Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175 du CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), 1919 route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France
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Parolini M, Romano M, Caprioli M, Rubolini D, Saino N. Vitamin E deficiency in last‐laid eggs limits growth of yellow‐legged gull chicks. Funct Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Marco Parolini
- Department of Biosciences University of Milan via Celoria 26 I‐20133 Milan Italy
| | - Maria Romano
- Department of Biosciences University of Milan via Celoria 26 I‐20133 Milan Italy
| | - Manuela Caprioli
- Department of Biosciences University of Milan via Celoria 26 I‐20133 Milan Italy
| | - Diego Rubolini
- Department of Biosciences University of Milan via Celoria 26 I‐20133 Milan Italy
| | - Nicola Saino
- Department of Biosciences University of Milan via Celoria 26 I‐20133 Milan Italy
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Poisbleau M, Dehnhard N, Demongin L, Parenteau C, Quillfeldt P, Eens M. Females paired with new and heavy mates reduce intra-clutch differences in resource allocation. PLoS One 2013; 8:e72136. [PMID: 23967280 PMCID: PMC3744535 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2013] [Accepted: 07/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Reproductive investment affects both offspring and parental fitness and influences the evolution of life histories. Females may vary their overall primary reproductive effort in relation to the phenotypic characteristics of their mate. However, the effects of male quality on differential resource allocation within clutches have been largely neglected despite the potential implications for mate choice and population dynamics, especially in species exhibiting biparental care and brood reduction. Female southern rockhopper penguins Eudyptes chrysocome paired with heavy mates reduced intra-clutch variation in egg and albumen masses. Females paired with new mates also reduced intra-clutch variation in yolk androgen levels. Since both an increased mass and increased androgen concentrations positively influence chick survival under sibling competition, the chances of fledging the whole clutch are likely to be higher for newly formed pairs with heavy males than for previously formed pairs with light males. Interestingly, total clutch provisioning did not vary with male quality. We show for the first time that females vary intra-clutch variation in resource allocation according to male quality. In species with brood reduction, it may be more adaptive for females to modulate the distribution of resources within the clutch according to breeding conditions, than to change their total clutch provisioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maud Poisbleau
- Department of Biology - Ethology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
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Pitk M, Tilgar V, Kilgas P, Mänd R. Acute stress affects the corticosterone level in bird eggs: a case study with great tits (Parus major). Horm Behav 2012; 62:475-9. [PMID: 22906482 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2012] [Revised: 08/03/2012] [Accepted: 08/04/2012] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In vertebrates, stress experienced by mothers during the early stages of reproduction is an important source of epigenetic modifications in their offspring. Birds represent excellent models to test such effects as their maternal investment can be quantified in terms of egg quality. Recently, it has been demonstrated that corticosterone (CORT) can be transmitted from a female bird into its eggs. However, there is little published evidence about maternal effects that are mediated by acute stress. In this study, we demonstrated that female great tits Parus major facing an aerial predator during egg formation increased CORT concentration in eggs that were laid the morning after the treatment. By presenting a predator model to each experimental nest twice a day, we found that maternal stress influences corticosterone content in eggs during a time period from albumen production in the magnum until the initial phase of shell secretion, when additional water is added to the egg in the shell gland. We also found a positive correlation between the duration of parental alarm calls and CORT concentration in eggs. In conclusion, the response of female passerines to predatory cues brings about a maternal effect that may have negative consequences for offspring performance. We also suggest that the total duration of the behavioral response to a stressor is an important determinant of CORT levels in the albumen of bird eggs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Pitk
- Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, Tartu 51014, Estonia.
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Parejo D, Avilés JM, Rodríguez J. Supplemental food affects egg size but not hatching asynchrony in rollers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-012-1360-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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