scholarly journals Corticosterone Levels in Relation to Change of Mate in Black-Legged Kittiwakes

The Condor ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 668-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Angelier ◽  
BØRGE Moe ◽  
Celine Clement-Chastel ◽  
Claus Bech ◽  
Olivier Chastel

Abstract Abstract. In birds, changing mates generally results in decreased breeding success. Although costs and benefits of pair break-up have been well studied, endocrine mechanisms associated with mate change are poorly known. We measured baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels in relation to mate change in Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla). Baseline corticosterone levels were higher in kittiwakes breeding with a new mate than in kittiwakes that did not change mate. Stress-induced corticosterone levels were not influenced by change of mate. Elevated baseline corticosterone levels in birds breeding with a new mate could result from the social stress associated with pair break-up or mirror a higher energetic demand resulting from a lack of coordination between new pair members. Our results emphasize the usefulness of corticosterone levels in elucidating the effects of mate change on the energetic demands of reproduction in free-living birds.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthik Yarlagadda ◽  
Imran Razik ◽  
Ripan S. Malhi ◽  
Gerald G. Carter

The ‘social microbiome’ can fundamentally shape the costs and benefits of group-living, but understanding social transmission of microbes in free-living animals is challenging due to confounding effects of kinship and shared environments (e.g. highly associated individuals often share the same spaces, food and water). Here, we report evidence for convergence towards a social microbiome among introduced common vampire bats, Desmodus rotundus , a highly social species in which adults feed only on blood, and engage in both mouth-to-body allogrooming and mouth-to-mouth regurgitated food sharing. Shotgun sequencing of samples from six zoos in the USA, 15 wild-caught bats from a colony in Belize and 31 bats from three colonies in Panama showed that faecal microbiomes were more similar within colonies than between colonies. To assess microbial transmission, we created an experimentally merged group of the Panama bats from the three distant sites by housing these bats together for four months. In this merged colony, we found evidence that dyadic gut microbiome similarity increased with both clustering and oral contact, leading to microbiome convergence among introduced bats. Our findings demonstrate that social interactions shape microbiome similarity even when controlling for past social history, kinship, environment and diet.


1992 ◽  
Vol 31 (4I) ◽  
pp. 535-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ali Khan

Harberger introduced his influential 1971 essay with the following words. This paper is intended not as a scientific study, nor as a review of the literature, but rather as a tract - an open letter to the profession, as it were - pleading that three basic postulates be accepted as providing a conventional framework for applied welfare economics. The postulates are: (a) The competitive demand price for a given unit measures the value of that unit to the demander; (b) The competitive supply price for a given unit measures the value of that unit to the supplier; and (c) When evaluating the net benefits or costs of a given action (project, programme, or policy), the costs and benefits accruing to each member of the relevant group (e.g., a nation) should normally be added without regard to the individual(s) to whom they accrue.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D Mancini

In this commentary, I argue that the mental health impact of COVID-19 will show substantial variation across individuals, contexts, and time. Further, one key contributor to this variation will be the proximal and long-term impact of COVID-19 on the social environment. In addition to the mental health costs of the pandemic, it is likely that a subset of people will experience improved social and mental health functioning.


1981 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Aufderheide

Criminal justice records provide the historian with a wealth of data on social deviance, and on the role of the judiciary in defining and controlling it. They can as well comment on the most invisible group for the social historian: the “innocent bystanders,” the respectable folk who distinguish themselves neither by their power and influence nor by their deviance. This essay illustrates the value of one kind of judicial data, local criminal investigations in Brazil, to provide information on the working citizens of a community. Changes in the characteristics of that population may be indicative of wider social stress in the Brazilian Independence period.


2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 1200-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Gabe ◽  
Sam Trowsdale ◽  
Diveshkumar Mistry

Rainwater harvesting is effectively mandated in several urban areas of New Zealand. To understand the costs and benefits of rainwater harvesting from an end-user perspective, semistructured interviews were conducted with 14 homeowners in northern Auckland affected by these regulations. Residents report differences in four aspects of urban rainwater infrastructure – security of supply, water quality, the learning process and financial costs – that could represent key values for public acceptance. When responses are examined from the perspective of experience that has built empirical knowledge, participants explained how their satisfaction with rainwater harvesting increased over time. We hypothesise that for those lacking experience, urban rainwater consumption is a function of empirical knowledge and has initially rising marginal utility. Regulation that recognises the costs of social learning is likely to be a more effective pathway towards maximising the social benefits associated with integrated urban water management.


1969 ◽  
pp. 475 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. W. Neilson

The last ten years have been an extraordinary period with respect to legislation in the area of small claims dispute resolution. The author outlines how various provinces have reformed and experimented with their small claims courts to better suit the needs of the consumer. The costs and benefits of these reforms are analyzed with the competing values of diversity and uniformity in mind, The author examines the social policy behind these issues from several perspectives, including that of the potential litigant, judge and taxpayer.


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