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Drummond H, Ortega S, Ancona S, Rodríguez C. Long-term effects of sex-specific sibling interaction on the development of blue-footed boobies. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03248-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Pei Y, Forstmeier W, Kempenaers B. Offspring performance is well buffered against stress experienced by ancestors. Evolution 2020; 74:1525-1539. [PMID: 32463119 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 05/14/2020] [Accepted: 05/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Evolution should render individuals resistant to stress and particularly to stress experienced by ancestors. However, many studies report negative effects of stress experienced by one generation on the performance of subsequent generations. To assess the strength of such transgenerational effects we propose a strategy aimed at overcoming the problem of type I errors when testing multiple proxies of stress in multiple ancestors against multiple offspring performance traits, and we apply it to a large observational dataset on captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). We combine clear one-tailed hypotheses with steps of validation, meta-analytic summary of mean effect sizes, and independent confirmatory testing. We find that drastic differences in early growth conditions (nestling body mass 8 days after hatching varied sevenfold between 1.7 and 12.4 g) had only moderate direct effects on adult morphology (95% confidence interval [CI]: r = 0.19-0.27) and small direct effects on adult fitness traits (r = 0.02-0.12). In contrast, we found no indirect effects of parental or grandparental condition (r = -0.017 to 0.002; meta-analytic summary of 138 effect sizes), and mixed evidence for small benefits of matching environments between parents and offspring, as the latter was not robust to confirmatory testing in independent datasets. This study shows that evolution has led to a remarkable robustness of zebra finches against undernourishment. Our study suggests that transgenerational effects are absent in this species, because CIs exclude all biologically relevant effect sizes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yifan Pei
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, 82319, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Forstmeier
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, 82319, Germany
| | - Bart Kempenaers
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, 82319, Germany
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Acevedo CR, Riecke TV, Leach AG, Lohman MG, Williams PJ, Sedinger JS. Long-term research and hierarchical models reveal consistent fitness costs of being the last egg in a clutch. J Anim Ecol 2020; 89:1978-1987. [PMID: 32248534 PMCID: PMC7497156 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2020] [Accepted: 03/12/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Maintenance of phenotypic heterogeneity in the face of strong selection is an important component of evolutionary ecology, as are the consequences of such heterogeneity. Organisms may experience diminishing returns of increased reproductive allocation as clutch or litter size increases, affecting current and residual reproductive success. Given existing uncertainty regarding trade‐offs between the quantity and quality of offspring, we sought to examine the potential for diminishing returns on increased reproductive allocation in a long‐lived species of goose, with a particular emphasis on the effect of position in the laying sequence on offspring quality. To better understand the effects of maternal allocation on offspring survival and growth, we estimated the effects of egg size, timing of breeding, inter‐ and intra‐annual variation, and position in the laying sequence on gosling survival and growth rates of black brant Branta bernicla nigricans breeding in western Alaska from 1987 to 2007. We found that gosling growth rates and survival decreased with position in the laying sequence, regardless of clutch size. Mean egg volume of the clutch a gosling originated from had a positive effect on gosling survival (β = 0.095, 95% CRI: 0.024, 0.165) and gosling growth rates (β = 0.626, 95% CRI: 0.469, 0.738). Gosling survival (β = −0.146, 95% CRI: −0.214, −0.079) and growth rates (β = −1.286, 95% CRI: −1.435, −1.132) were negatively related to hatching date. These findings indicate substantial heterogeneity in offspring quality associated with their position in the laying sequence. They also potentially suggest a trade‐off mechanism for females whose total reproductive investment is governed by pre‐breeding state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheyenne R Acevedo
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Thomas V Riecke
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA.,Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Alan G Leach
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA.,Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Madeleine G Lohman
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - Perry J Williams
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
| | - James S Sedinger
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA
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Tschumi M, Humbel J, Erbes J, Fattebert J, Fischer J, Fritz G, Geiger B, van Harxen R, Hoos B, Hurst J, Jacobsen LB, Keil H, Kneule W, Michel VT, Michels H, Möbius L, Perrig M, Rößler P, Schneider D, Schuch S, Stroeken P, Naef-Daenzer B, Grüebler MU. Parental sex allocation and sex-specific survival drive offspring sex ratio bias in little owls. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2694-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Wilson KM, Tatarenkov A, Burley NT. Early life and transgenerational stressors impact secondary sexual traits and fitness. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Kerianne M Wilson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Andrey Tatarenkov
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Nancy Tyler Burley
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
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Fresneau N, Müller W. Flexible communication within bird families-The consequences of behavioral plasticity for parent-offspring coadaptation. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:693-702. [PMID: 30680149 PMCID: PMC6342095 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2018] [Revised: 11/05/2018] [Accepted: 11/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Offspring are selected to demand more resources than what is optimal for their parents to provide, which results in a complex and dynamic interplay during parental care. Parent-offspring communication often involves conspicuous begging by the offspring which triggers a parental response, typically the transfer of food. So begging and parental provisioning reciprocally influence each other and are therefore expected to coevolve. There is indeed empirical evidence for covariation of offspring begging and parental provisioning at the phenotypic level. However, whether this reflects genetic correlations of mean levels of behaviors or a covariation of the slopes of offspring demand and parental supply functions (= behavioral plasticity) is not known. The latter has gone rather unnoticed-despite the obvious dynamics of parent-offspring communication. In this study, we measured parental provisioning and begging behavior at two different hunger levels using canaries (Serinus canaria) as a model species. This enabled us to simultaneously study the plastic responses of the parents and the offspring to changes in offspring need. We first tested whether parent and offspring behaviors covary phenotypically. Then, using a covariance partitioning approach, we estimated whether the covariance predominantly occurred at a between-nest level (i.e., indicating a fixed strategy) or at a within-nest level (i.e., reflecting a flexible strategy). We found positive phenotypic covariation of offspring begging and parental provisioning, confirming previous evidence. Yet, this phenotypic covariation was mainly driven by a covariance at the within-nest level. That is parental and offspring behaviors covary because of a plastic behavioral coadjustment, indicating that behavioral plasticity could be a main driver of parent-offspring coadaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nolwenn Fresneau
- Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Research GroupUniversity of AntwerpAntwerpBelgium
| | - Wendt Müller
- Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Research GroupUniversity of AntwerpAntwerpBelgium
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Diaz-Real J, Kim SY, Velando A. Hatching hierarchy but not egg-related effects governs behavioral phenotypes in gull chicks. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
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Perez EC, Mariette MM, Cochard P, Soulage CO, Griffith SC, Vignal C. Corticosterone triggers high-pitched nestlings’ begging calls and affects parental behavior in the wild zebra finch. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
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Information warfare in avian families: sex-specific begging responses to need and social environment in canary nestlings. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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McCowan LSC, Griffith SC. Nestling activity levels during begging behaviour predicts activity level and body mass in adulthood. PeerJ 2014; 2:e566. [PMID: 25279258 PMCID: PMC4179387 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2014] [Accepted: 08/18/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Across a range of species including humans, personality traits, or differences in behaviour between individuals that are consistent over time, have been demonstrated. However, few studies have measured whether these consistent differences are evident in very young animals, and whether they persist over an individual’s entire lifespan. Here we investigated the begging behaviour of very young cross-fostered zebra finch nestlings and the relationship between that and adult activity levels. We found a link between the nestling activity behaviour head movements during begging, measured at just five and seven days after hatching, and adult activity levels, measured when individuals were between three and three and a half years old. Moreover, body mass was found to be negatively correlated with both nestling and adult activity levels, suggesting that individuals which carry less body fat as adults are less active both as adults and during begging as nestlings. Our work suggests that the personality traits identified here in both very young nestlings and adults may be linked to physiological factors such as metabolism or environmental sources of variation. Moreover, our work suggests it may be possible to predict an individual’s future adult personality at a very young age, opening up new avenues for future work to explore the relationship between personality and a number of aspects of individual life history and survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke S C McCowan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University , Sydney, NSW , Australia
| | - Simon C Griffith
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University , Sydney, NSW , Australia
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On the coadaptation of offspring begging and parental supply—a within-individual approach across life stages. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1756-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Gilby AJ, Mainwaring MC, Griffith SC. Incubation behaviour and hatching synchrony differ in wild and captive populations of the zebra finch. Anim Behav 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.03.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Mariette MM, Griffith SC. Does coloniality improve foraging efficiency and nestling provisioning? A field experiment in the wild Zebra Finch. Ecology 2013; 94:325-35. [DOI: 10.1890/12-0572.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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