Peer Review #2 of "Life history stage explains behavior in a social network before and during the early breeding season in a cooperatively breeding bird (v0.1)"

In species with stage-structured populations selection pressures may vary between different life history stages and result in stage-specific behaviors. We use life history stage to explain variation in the pre and early breeding season social behavior of a cooperatively breeding bird, the Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) using social network analysis. Life history stage explains much of the variation we observed in social network position. These differences are consistent with nearly 50 years of natural history observations and generally conform to a priori predictions about how individuals in different stages should behave to maximize their individual fitness. Where the results from the social network analysis differ from the a priori predictions suggest that social interactions between members of different groups are more important for breeders than previously thought. Our results emphasize the importance of accounting for life history stage in studies of individual social behavior.

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

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/arz129 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 1642-1652 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

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.

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Interactions with humans are jointly influenced by life history stage and social network factors and reduce group cohesion in moor macaques (Macaca maura)

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-56288-z ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kristen S. Morrow ◽

Hunter Glanz ◽

Putu Oka Ngakan ◽

Erin P. Riley

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Life History ◽

Social Network ◽

Interindividual Variation ◽

Life History Stage ◽

The Road ◽

Network Position ◽

Moor Macaques ◽

Structure Changes ◽

Social Network Structure

AbstractHuman-wildlife encounters are becoming increasingly frequent across the globe, often leading people to interact with and feed wild animals and impacting animal behaviour and ecology. Although the nature of human-wildlife interactions has been well documented across a number of species, we still have limited understanding as to why some individual animals interact more frequently with humans than others. Additionally, we lack a comprehensive understanding of how these interactions influence animal social networks. Using behavioural data from a group of moor macaque monkeys (Macaca maura), we used permutation-based linear regression analyses to understand how life history and social network factors jointly explain interindividual variation in tendency to interact with humans along a provincial road in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. As our study group spent only a portion of their time in proximity to humans, we also examined how social network structure changes in response to human presence by comparing social networks in the forest to those along the road. We found that sex, individual network position, and associate network position interact in complex ways to influence individual behaviour. Individual variation in tendency to be along the road caused social networks to become less cohesive when in proximity to humans. This study demonstrates that nuanced intragroup analyses are necessary to fully understand and address conservation issues relating to human-wildlife interactions.

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Response to acute stress in the Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) during the breeding season and moult: relationships to gender, condition, and life-history stage

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z02-118 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 80 (8) ◽

pp. 1334-1343 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

N Perfito ◽

G Schirato ◽

M Brown ◽

J C Wingfield

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Breeding Season ◽

Body Condition ◽

River Flow ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Life History Strategies ◽

Life History Stage ◽

Corticosterone Concentration ◽

Histrionicus Histrionicus ◽

Males And Females

Seasonal adjustments and individual responses to environmental perturbations have been well characterized in many passerine species but similar studies in other groups of birds are sparse. Larger-bodied and longer-lived avian species have different life-history strategies and different energy-storage and -utilization patterns. We investigated the response to capture stress in male and female Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) during the breeding season on montane rivers and during moult on coastal waterways of Washington State. Females arrived at the breeding grounds in better condition and had a smaller rise in circulating corticosterone during 1 h of restraint than males. As the breeding season progressed, body condition declined in females and their adrenocortical response to acute stress became more pronounced. A potentially disruptive environmental condition, high river flow during the breeding season, was not associated with lower nesting success, lower body condition indices, or higher corticosterone levels (baseline or maximum concentration). The maximum corticosterone concentration reached over 1 h of restraint was negatively correlated with body condition in females during the breeding season. Lastly, males and females had similar adrenocortical responses to capture and handling during moult. We relate differential responses to acute stress between males and females to different selective pressures during the breeding season.

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Relationships between temperature and Pacific hake distribution vary across latitude and life-history stage

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13286 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 639 ◽

pp. 185-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

MJ Malick ◽

ME Hunsicker ◽

MA Haltuch ◽

SL Parker-Stetter ◽

AM Berger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Vancouver Island ◽

Additive Models ◽

Life History Stage ◽

Fish Stocks ◽

Merluccius Productus ◽

Multiple Dimensions ◽

Effects Of Temperature

Environmental conditions can have spatially complex effects on the dynamics of marine fish stocks that change across life-history stages. Yet the potential for non-stationary environmental effects across multiple dimensions, e.g. space and ontogeny, are rarely considered. In this study, we examined the evidence for spatial and ontogenetic non-stationary temperature effects on Pacific hake Merluccius productus biomass along the west coast of North America. Specifically, we used Bayesian additive models to estimate the effects of temperature on Pacific hake biomass distribution and whether the effects change across space or life-history stage. We found latitudinal differences in the effects of temperature on mature Pacific hake distribution (i.e. age 3 and older); warmer than average subsurface temperatures were associated with higher biomass north of Vancouver Island, but lower biomass offshore of Washington and southern Vancouver Island. In contrast, immature Pacific hake distribution (i.e. age 2) was better explained by a nonlinear temperature effect; cooler than average temperatures were associated with higher biomass coastwide. Together, our results suggest that Pacific hake distribution is driven by interactions between age composition and environmental conditions and highlight the importance of accounting for varying environmental effects across multiple dimensions.

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