scholarly journals Enzymatic antioxidants but not baseline glucocorticoids mediate the reproduction–survival trade-off in a wild bird

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1892) ◽  
pp. 20182141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefania Casagrande ◽  
Michaela Hau
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Redox State ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Redox System ◽  
Reactive Oxygen Metabolites ◽  
Enzymatic Antioxidants ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Nest Provisioning

The trade-off between reproductive investment and survival is central to life-history theory, but the relative importance and the complex interactions among the physiological mechanisms mediating it are still debated. Here we experimentally tested whether baseline glucocorticoid hormones, the redox system or their interaction mediate reproductive investment–survival trade-offs in wild great tits ( Parus major ). We increased the workload of parental males by clipping three feathers on each wing, and 5 days later determined effects on baseline corticosterone concentrations (Cort), redox state (reactive oxygen metabolites, protein carbonyls, glutathione peroxidase [GPx], total non-enzymatic antioxidants), body mass, body condition, reproductive success and survival. Feather-clipping did not affect fledgling numbers, chick body condition, nest provisioning rates or survival compared with controls. However, feather-clipped males lost mass and increased both Cort and GPx concentrations. Within feather-clipped individuals, GPx increases were positively associated with reproductive investment (i.e. male nest provisioning). Furthermore, within all individuals, males that increased GPx suffered reduced survival rates. Baseline Cort increases were related to mass loss but not to redox state, nest provisioning or male survival. Our findings provide experimental evidence that changes in the redox system are associated with the trade-off between reproductive investment and survival, while baseline Cort may support this trade-off indirectly through a link with body condition. These results also emphasize that plastic changes in individuals, rather than static levels of physiological signals, may mediate life-history trade-offs.

scholarly journals Glucocorticoids, state-dependent reproductive investment and success in the face of danger in a long-lived bird

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Noreikienė ◽  
Kim Jaatinen ◽  
Benjamin B. Steele ◽  
Markus Öst
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Telomere Length ◽  
Clutch Size ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Nest Predation ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Relative Telomere Length ◽  
Future Reproduction

AbstractGlucocorticoid hormones may mediate trade-offs between current and future reproduction. However, understanding their role is complicated by predation risk, which simultaneously affects the value of the current reproductive investment and elevates glucocorticoid levels. Here, we shed light on these issues in long-lived female Eiders (Somateria mollissima) by investigating how current reproductive investment (clutch size) and hatching success relate to faecal glucocorticoid metabolite [fGCM] level and residual reproductive value (minimum years of breeding experience, body condition, relative telomere length) under spatially variable predation risk. Our results showed a positive relationship between colony-specific predation risk and mean colony-specific fGCM levels. Clutch size and female fGCM were negatively correlated only under high nest predation and in females in good body condition, previously shown to have a longer life expectancy. We also found that younger females with longer telomeres had smaller clutches. The drop in hatching success with increasing fGCM levels was least pronounced under high nest predation risk, suggesting that elevated fGCM levels may allow females to ensure some reproductive success under such conditions. Hatching success was positively associated with female body condition, with relative telomere length, particularly in younger females, and with female minimum age, particularly under low predation risk, showing the utility of these metrics as indicators of individual quality. In line with a trade-off between current and future reproduction, our results show that high potential for future breeding prospects and increased predation risk shift the balance toward investment in future reproduction, with glucocorticoids playing a role in the resolution of this trade-off.

Winter corticosterone and body condition predict breeding investment in a nonmigratory bird

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1642-1652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé Montreuil-Spencer ◽  
Kelsey Schoenemann ◽  
Ádám Z Lendvai ◽  
Frances Bonier
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Residual Body ◽  
Life History Stage ◽  
Nonbreeding Season ◽  
Fat Reserves ◽  
Fat Score

Abstract Reproduction is an energetically demanding life history stage that requires costly physiological and behavioral changes, yet some individuals will invest more into reproduction and breed more successfully than others. To understand variation in reproductive investment, previous studies have evaluated factors during breeding, but conditions outside of this life history stage may also play a role. Using a free-ranging population of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), we assessed the repeatability of plastic traits relating to energetic condition (circulating initial corticosterone concentrations and body condition) during the nonbreeding season and evaluated whether these traits predicted reproductive investment in the subsequent breeding season. We found that initial corticosterone concentrations and an index of body condition, but not fat score, were moderately repeatable over a 1-week period in winter. This trait repeatability supports the interpretation that among-individual variation in these phenotypic traits could reflect an intrinsic strategy to cope with challenging conditions across life history stages. We found that females with larger fat reserves during winter laid eggs sooner and tended to spend more time incubating their eggs and feeding their offspring. In contrast, we found that females with higher residual body mass delayed breeding, after controlling for the relationship between fat score and timing of breeding. Additionally, females with higher initial corticosterone in winter laid lighter eggs. Our findings suggest that conditions experienced outside of the breeding season may be important factors explaining variation in reproductive investment.

scholarly journals Warmer temperatures attenuate the classic offspring number and reproductive investment trade-off in the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 20160101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Rutschmann ◽  
Donald B. Miles ◽  
Jean Clobert ◽  
Murielle Richard
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Offspring Number ◽  
Common Lizard ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Zootoca Vivipara ◽  
The Common

Life-history traits involved in trade-offs are known to vary with environmental conditions. Here, we evaluate the response of the trade-off between ‘offspring number’ versus ‘energy invested per offspring’ to ambient temperature in 11 natural populations of the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara . We provide evidence at both the intra- and interpopulation levels that the trade-off is reduced with an increase in air temperature. If this effect enhances current individual fitness, it may lead to an accelerated pace of life in warmer environments and could ultimately increase adult mortality. In the context of global warming, our results advocate the need for more studies in natural populations to explore interactions between life-history traits' trade-offs and environmental conditions.

scholarly journals Trade-off between age of first reproduction and survival in a female primate

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory E. Blomquist
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Human Study ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Adult Survival ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Female Life History ◽  
First Reproduction

Trade-offs are central to life-history theory but difficult to document. Patterns of phenotypic and genetic correlations in rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta —a long-lived, slow-reproducing primate—are used to test for a trade-off between female age of first reproduction and adult survival. A strong positive genetic correlation indicates that female macaques suffer reduced adult survival when they mature relatively early and implies primate senescence can be explained, in part, by antagonistic pleiotropy. Contrasts with a similar human study implicate the extension of parental effects to later ages as a potential mechanism for circumventing female life-history trade-offs in human evolution.

Effect of body size, age and timing of breeding on clutch and egg size of female Eastern Gray Treefrogs, Hyla versicolor

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Gerlinde Höbel ◽  
Robb Kolodziej ◽  
Dustin Nelson ◽  
Christopher White
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Hyla Versicolor ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Gray Treefrogs

Abstract Information on how organisms allocate resources to reproduction is critical for understanding population dynamics. We collected clutch size (fecundity) and egg size data of female Eastern Gray Treefrogs, Hyla versicolor, and examined whether observed patterns of resource allocation are best explained by expectations arising from life history theory or by expected survival and growth benefits of breeding earlier. Female Hyla versicolor showed high between-individual variation in clutch and egg size. We did not observe maternal allocation trade-offs (size vs number; growth vs reproduction) predicted from life history theory, which we attribute to the large between-female variation in resource availability, and the low survival and post-maturity growth rate observed in the study population. Rather, clutches are larger at the beginning of the breeding season, and this variation in reproductive investment aligns with seasonal variation in ecological factors affecting offspring growth and survival.

scholarly journals Body condition but not dietary restriction prolongs lifespan in a semelparous capital breeder

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 636-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael M. Kasumovic ◽  
Robert C. Brooks ◽  
Maydianne C. B. Andrade
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Dietary Restriction ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Mate Searching ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Capital Breeder ◽  
Direct Energy ◽  
Faster Development

Effects of diet on longevity are complex because acquired resources are shared among growth, reproduction and somatic maintenance. We simplify these axes by examining how dietary restriction and competitive contexts affect longevity using semelparous males of the Australian redback spider ( Latrodectus hasselti ). Plastic development of L. hasselti males results in trade-offs of body condition against faster development if females are present, facilitating scramble competition. In the absence of females, males develop slowly as high body condition adults, and are better equipped for mate searching. Here we focus on effects of diet and competitive context on body condition and longevity. Although male survival depended on body condition and exercise, contrary to studies in a wide range of taxa, dietary restriction did not increase longevity. However, there was an interactive effect of diet and competitive context on lifespan, because high-diet males reared in the absence of females lived longer than males reared in the presence of females. Thus males near females pay a survival cost of developing rapidly. This shows that life-history trade-offs affected by competitive context can impose longevity costs independent of the direct energy expenditure of searching, courtship, competition or reproduction.

scholarly journals Body reserves mediate trade-offs between life-history traits: new insights from small pelagic fish reproduction

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Brosset ◽  
Josep Lloret ◽  
Marta Muñoz ◽  
Christian Fauvel ◽  
Elisabeth Van Beveren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Pelagic Fish ◽  
Small Pelagic Fish ◽  
Gulf Of Lions ◽  
Fish Size ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Cost

Limited resources in the environment prevent individuals from simultaneously maximizing all life-history traits, resulting in trade-offs. In particular, the cost of reproduction is well known to negatively affect energy investment in growth and maintenance. Here, we investigated these trade-offs during contrasting periods of high versus low fish size and body condition (before/after 2008) in the Gulf of Lions. Female reproductive allocation and performance in anchovy ( Engraulis encrasicolus ) and sardine ( Sardina pilchardus ) were examined based on morphometric historical data from the 1970s and from 2003 to 2015. Additionally, potential maternal effects on egg quantity and quality were examined in 2014/2015. After 2008, the gonadosomatic index increased for sardine and remained steady for anchovy, while a strong decline in mean length at first maturity indicated earlier maturation for both species. Regarding maternal effects, for both species egg quantity was positively linked to fish size but not to fish lipid reserves, while the egg quality was positively related to lipid reserves. Atresia prevalence and intensity were rather low regardless of fish condition and size. Finally, estimations of total annual numbers of eggs spawned indicated a sharp decrease for sardine since 2008 but a slight increase for anchovy during the last 5 years. This study revealed a biased allocation towards reproduction in small pelagic fish when confronted with a really low body condition. This highlights that fish can maintain high reproductive investment potentially at the cost of other traits which might explain the present disappearance of old and large individuals in the Gulf of Lions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document