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Di Giovanni AJ, Jones TM, Benson TJ, Ward MP. Embryonic heart rate is higher in species that experience greater nest predation risk during incubation. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11460. [PMID: 38826173 PMCID: PMC11139974 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 04/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Avian eggs develop outside of the female body, and therefore embryonic development is subject to multiple internal (physiological) and external (ecological) factors. Embryonic developmental rate has important consequences for survival. Within species, embryos that develop too quickly often experience deformities, disorders, or mortality, while embryos that develop slowly risk inviability and increase the time they are exposed to various sources of mortality in the nest. These contrasting forces may lead to interspecific variation in developmental rates. We investigated potential factors affecting embryonic heart rate (EHR), a proxy of development, across 14 passerine species in the field. More specifically, we investigated if nest predation risk, clutch size, seasonality, and egg volume influenced EHR. From previous research, we expected, and found, that EHR was positively associated with embryonic age and egg temperature. Species with greater nest predation risk had higher EHR, shorter incubation periods, and lower nest temperature variance. EHR increased as the season progressed and with egg volume, while EHR declined with clutch size. Bird species exhibit varying strategies to increase nestling and fledgling survival in response to predation risk, and these results suggest that variation in embryonic development may be related to species-specific differences in nest predation risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander J. Di Giovanni
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignUrbanaIllinoisUSA
| | - Todd M. Jones
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignUrbanaIllinoisUSA
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research InstituteUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignChampaignIllinoisUSA
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Migratory Bird CenterNational Zoological ParkWashingtonDCUSA
| | - Thomas J. Benson
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignUrbanaIllinoisUSA
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research InstituteUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignChampaignIllinoisUSA
| | - Michael P. Ward
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignUrbanaIllinoisUSA
- Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research InstituteUniversity of Illinois at Urbana‐ChampaignChampaignIllinoisUSA
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Miller KD, Atkins Coleman AJ, O'Neil KL, Mueller AJ, Pell RD, Bowers EK. Individual Optimization of Reproductive Investment and the Cost of Incubation in a Wild Songbird. Am Nat 2024; 203:254-266. [PMID: 38306278 DOI: 10.1086/727967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2024]
Abstract
AbstractDespite avid interest in life history trade-offs and the costs of reproduction, evidence that increased parental allocation reduces subsequent breeding productivity is mixed. This uncertainty may be attributable to environmental heterogeneity in space and time, necessitating experiments across a range of ecological contexts. Over three breeding seasons, we cross-fostered clutches between nests to manipulate incubation duration in a wild population of Carolina wrens, a species in which only females incubate, to test for a cost of incubation on current and future reproduction. Prolonged incubation affected maternal productivity in a manner dependent on the current environment and initial investment in eggs, suggesting that incubation is optimized according to other components of reproduction and individual quality. Effects of incubation duration on foster nestling condition varied between years, being costly in one, beneficial in another, and neutral in the third. The proportion of young fledged, females' probability of breeding again within seasons, and subsequent clutch sizes all declined with increasing incubation effort-effects that became more pronounced as seasons progressed. Therefore, costs of incubation were almost entirely dependent on maternal quality and environmental variation, illustrating the importance of conducting experiments across a range of environmental settings for understanding the costs of reproduction and evolution of life histories.
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Hope SF, Angelier F. Effects of the temperature during embryonic development on adult reproduction and the phenotype of the second generation in zebra finches. J Therm Biol 2024; 119:103787. [PMID: 38281314 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2024.103787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Across taxa, the temperature experienced by individuals early in life can have large effects on their development. However, comparatively little is known about whether the effects of this thermal developmental environment can be long-lasting or transgenerational. In birds, one important aspect of the developmental environment is incubation and, in general, eggs incubated at low temperatures produce offspring with smaller morphology, suboptimal physiology, and even lower long-term survival. Yet, little is known about whether incubation temperature may affect avian reproduction in adulthood, and nothing is known about whether the effects of avian incubation temperature may be transgenerational. To investigate this, we incubated zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) eggs at two different temperatures: 37.5 °C ('control') and 36.3 °C ('low'), raised nestlings until adulthood, and allowed same-temperature treatment pairs to reproduce. We found that F1 individuals incubated at the low temperature had shorter beaks at the start of reproduction than those incubated at the control temperature. Further, compared to those from control parents, F2 offspring from parents incubated at the low temperature had lighter body masses at 5 days-old and had shorter beaks at 30 days-old. However, we found little evidence that incubation temperature affected other aspects of reproduction, with no effect on latency to lay, clutch size, egg mass, incubation period, hatching success/asynchrony, fledging, or the number of offspring that ultimately survived until independence. Overall, we found some evidence that a difference in the early thermal developmental environment can have lasting morphological effects into the next generation. However, future work is needed to determine whether the incubation temperature that birds experience as embryos may influence parental care behaviors or lifetime reproductive success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney F Hope
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS - La Rochelle Université, UMR 7372, Villiers en Bois, 79360, France.
| | - Frédéric Angelier
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS - La Rochelle Université, UMR 7372, Villiers en Bois, 79360, France
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Cossin-Sevrin N, Stier A, Hukkanen M, Zahn S, Viblanc VA, Anttila K, Ruuskanen S. Early-life environmental effects on mitochondrial aerobic metabolism: a brood size manipulation in wild great tits. J Exp Biol 2023; 226:jeb245932. [PMID: 37815441 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023]
Abstract
In avian species, the number of chicks in the nest and subsequent sibling competition for food are major components of the offspring's early-life environment. A large brood size is known to affect chick growth, leading in some cases to long-lasting effects for the offspring, such as a decrease in size at fledgling and in survival after fledging. An important pathway underlying different growth patterns could be the variation in offspring mitochondrial metabolism through its central role in converting energy. Here, we performed a brood size manipulation in great tits (Parus major) to unravel its impact on offspring mitochondrial metabolism and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in red blood cells. We investigated the effects of brood size on chick growth and survival, and tested for long-lasting effects on juvenile mitochondrial metabolism and phenotype. As expected, chicks raised in reduced broods had a higher body mass compared with enlarged and control groups. However, mitochondrial metabolism and ROS production were not significantly affected by the treatment at either chick or juvenile stages. Interestingly, chicks raised in very small broods were smaller in size and had higher mitochondrial metabolic rates. The nest of rearing had a significant effect on nestling mitochondrial metabolism. The contribution of the rearing environment in determining offspring mitochondrial metabolism emphasizes the plasticity of mitochondrial metabolism in relation to the nest environment. This study opens new avenues regarding the effect of postnatal environmental conditions in shaping offspring early-life mitochondrial metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Cossin-Sevrin
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
- Université de Strasbourg, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, UMR 7178, 67087 Strasbourg, France
| | - Antoine Stier
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
- Université de Strasbourg, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, UMR 7178, 67087 Strasbourg, France
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
| | - Mikaela Hukkanen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sandrine Zahn
- Université de Strasbourg, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, UMR 7178, 67087 Strasbourg, France
| | - Vincent A Viblanc
- Université de Strasbourg, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, UMR 7178, 67087 Strasbourg, France
| | - Katja Anttila
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
| | - Suvi Ruuskanen
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, FI-40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
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Hope SF, Angelier F, Ribout C, Groffen J, Kennamer RA, Hopkins WA. Warmer incubation temperatures and later lay-orders lead to shorter telomere lengths in wood duck (Aix sponsa) ducklings. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART A, ECOLOGICAL AND INTEGRATIVE PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 339:101-111. [PMID: 36214364 DOI: 10.1002/jez.2659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The environment that animals experience during development shapes phenotypic expression. In birds, two important aspects of the early-developmental environment are lay-order sequence and incubation. Later-laid eggs tend to produce weaker offspring, sometimes with compensatory mechanisms to accelerate their growth rate to catch-up to their siblings. Further, small decreases in incubation temperature slow down embryonic growth rates and lead to wide-ranging negative effects on many posthatch traits. Recently, telomeres, noncoding DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes, have been recognized as a potential proxy for fitness because longer telomeres are positively related to lifespan and individual quality in many animals, including birds. Although telomeres appear to be mechanistically linked to growth rate, little is known about how incubation temperature and lay-order may influence telomere length. We incubated wood duck (Aix sponsa) eggs at two ecologically-relevant temperatures (34.9°C and 36.2°C) and measured telomere length at hatch and 1 week after. We found that ducklings incubated at the lower temperature had longer telomeres than those incubated at the higher temperature both at hatch and 1 week later. Further, we found that later-laid eggs produced ducklings with shorter telomeres than those laid early in the lay-sequence, although lay-order was not related to embryonic developmental rate. This study contributes to our broader understanding of how parental effects can affect telomere length early in life. More work is needed to determine if these effects on telomere length persist until adulthood, and if they are associated with effects on fitness in this precocial species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney F Hope
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.,Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS-La Rochelle Université, UMR 7372, Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Frédéric Angelier
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS-La Rochelle Université, UMR 7372, Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Cécile Ribout
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS-La Rochelle Université, UMR 7372, Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Jordy Groffen
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
| | - Robert A Kennamer
- Savannah River Ecology Lab, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina, USA
| | - William A Hopkins
- Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
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Parenting in the city: effects of urbanization on incubation behaviour and egg temperature in great tits, Parus major. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Hope SF, Schmitt L, Lourdais O, Angelier F. Nature vs. Nurture: Disentangling the Influence of Inheritance, Incubation Temperature, and Post-Natal Care on Offspring Heart Rate and Metabolism in Zebra Finches. Front Physiol 2022; 13:892154. [PMID: 35620597 PMCID: PMC9127084 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.892154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
A historic debate in biology is the question of nature vs. nurture. Although it is now known that most traits are a product of both heredity (“nature”) and the environment (“nurture”), these two driving forces of trait development are rarely examined together. In birds, one important aspect of the early developmental environment is egg incubation temperature. Small changes (<1°C) in incubation temperature can have large effects on a wide-array of offspring traits. One important trait is metabolism, because it is related to life-history traits and strategies, organismal performance, and energetic and behavioral strategies. Although it has been shown that embryonic and post-hatch metabolism are related to egg incubation temperature, little is known about how this may vary as a function of genetic differences or post-hatching environmental conditions. Here, we investigated this question in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). We experimentally incubated eggs at two different temperatures: 37.5°C (control), which is optimal for this species and 36.3°C (low), which is suboptimal. We first measured embryonic heart rate as a proxy of embryonic metabolic rate. Then, at hatch, we cross-fostered nestlings to differentiate genetic and pre-hatching factors from post-hatching environmental conditions. When offspring were 30 days-old, we measured their resting metabolic rate (RMR; within the thermoneutral zone) and thermoregulatory metabolic rate (TMR; 12°C; birds must actively thermoregulate). We also measured RMR and TMR of all genetic and foster parents. We found that embryonic heart rate was greater in eggs incubated at the control temperature than those at the low temperature. Further, embryonic heart rate was positively related to genetic father RMR, suggesting that it is both heritable and affected by the pre-natal environment. In addition, we found that post-hatch metabolic rates were positively related to genetic parent metabolic rate, and interactively related to incubation temperature and foster mother metabolic rate. Altogether, this suggests that metabolism and the energetic cost of thermoregulation can be influenced by genetics, the pre-natal environment, and the post-natal environment. Our study sheds light on how environmental changes and parental care may affect avian physiology, as well as which traits may be susceptible to natural selection.
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Gould J, Beranek C, Valdez J, Mahony M. Quantity
versus
quality: A balance between egg and clutch size among Australian amphibians in relation to other life‐history variables. AUSTRAL ECOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.13154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- John Gould
- Conservation Science Research Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences University of Newcastle Callaghan New South Wales 2308 Australia
| | - Chad Beranek
- Conservation Science Research Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences University of Newcastle Callaghan New South Wales 2308 Australia
- FAUNA Research Alliance PO Box 5092, Kahibah New South Wales 2290 Australia
| | - Jose Valdez
- Department of Bioscience – Kalø Aarhus University Grenåvej 14, 8410 Rønde Denmark
| | - Michael Mahony
- Conservation Science Research Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences University of Newcastle Callaghan New South Wales 2308 Australia
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Ryeland J, House CM, Umbers KDL, Spencer RJ. Optimal clutch size and male incubation investment in the male-only incubating emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03110-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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