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Ryan CP, Lee NR, Carba DB, MacIsaac JL, Lin DTS, Atashzay P, Belsky DW, Kobor MS, Kuzawa CW. Pregnancy is linked to faster epigenetic aging in young women. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2317290121. [PMID: 38588424 PMCID: PMC11032455 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2317290121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024] Open
Abstract
A central prediction of evolutionary theory is that energy invested into reproduction comes at the expense of somatic maintenance and repair, accelerating biological aging. Supporting this prediction are findings that high fertility among women predicts shorter lifespan and poorer health later in life. However, biological aging is thought to begin before age-related health declines, limiting the applicability of morbidity and mortality for studying the aging process earlier in life. Here, we examine the relationship between reproductive history and biological aging in a sample of young (20 to 22yo) men and women from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, located in the Philippines (n = 1,735). We quantify biological aging using six measures, collectively known as epigenetic clocks, reflecting various facets of cellular aging, health, and mortality risk. In a subset of women, we test whether longitudinal changes in gravidity between young and early-middle adulthood (25 to 31yo) are associated with changes in epigenetic aging during that time. Cross-sectionally, gravidity was associated with all six measures of accelerated epigenetic aging in women (n = 825). Furthermore, longitudinal increases in gravidity were linked to accelerated epigenetic aging in two epigenetic clocks (n = 331). In contrast, the number of pregnancies a man reported fathering was not associated with epigenetic aging among same-aged cohort men (n = 910). These effects were robust to socioecological, environmental, and immunological factors, consistent with the hypothesis that pregnancy accelerates biological aging and that these effects can be detected in young women in a high-fertility context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Calen P. Ryan
- Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY10032
| | - Nanette R. Lee
- USC-Office of Population Studies Foundation, University of San Carlos, Talamban, Cebu City6000, Philippines
| | - Delia B. Carba
- USC-Office of Population Studies Foundation, University of San Carlos, Talamban, Cebu City6000, Philippines
| | - Julie L. MacIsaac
- BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BCV5Z 4H4, Canada
| | - David T. S. Lin
- BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BCV5Z 4H4, Canada
| | - Parmida Atashzay
- BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BCV5Z 4H4, Canada
| | - Daniel W. Belsky
- Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY10032
- Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY10032
- Child and Brain Development Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, TorontoONM5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Michael S. Kobor
- BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BCV5Z 4H4, Canada
- Child and Brain Development Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, TorontoONM5G 1M1, Canada
- Department of Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A1, Canada
- Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, Vancouver, BCV5Z 4H4, Canada
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2
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Grames EM, Montgomery GA, Youngflesh C, Tingley MW, Elphick CS. The effect of insect food availability on songbird reproductive success and chick body condition: Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:658-673. [PMID: 36798988 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Revised: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Reports of declines in abundance and biomass of insects and other invertebrates from around the world have raised concerns about food limitation that could have profound impacts for insectivorous species. Food availability can clearly affect species; however, there is considerable variation among studies in whether this effect is evident, and thus a lack of clarity over the generality of the relationship. To understand how decreased food availability due to invertebrate declines will affect bird populations, we conducted a systematic review and used meta-analytic structural equation modelling, which allowed us to treat our core variables of interest as latent variables estimated by the diverse ways in which researchers measure fecundity and chick body condition. We found a moderate positive effect of food availability on chick body condition and a strong positive effect on reproductive success. We also found a negative relationship between chick body condition and reproductive success. Our results demonstrate that food is generally a limiting factor for breeding songbirds. Our analysis also provides evidence for a consistent trade-off between chick body condition and reproductive success, demonstrating the complexity of trophic dynamics important for these vital rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eliza M Grames
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno, Reno, Nevada, USA
| | - Graham A Montgomery
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Casey Youngflesh
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Michigan State University, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Morgan W Tingley
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Chris S Elphick
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA
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3
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McGrosky A, Pontzer H. The fire of evolution: energy expenditure and ecology in primates and other endotherms. J Exp Biol 2023; 226:297166. [PMID: 36916459 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Total energy expenditure (TEE) represents the total energy allocated to growth, reproduction and body maintenance, as well as the energy expended on physical activity. Early experimental work in animal energetics focused on the costs of specific tasks (basal metabolic rate, locomotion, reproduction), while determination of TEE was limited to estimates from activity budgets or measurements of subjects confined to metabolic chambers. Advances in recent decades have enabled measures of TEE in free-living animals, challenging traditional additive approaches to understanding animal energy budgets. Variation in lifestyle and activity level can impact individuals' TEE on short time scales, but interspecific differences in TEE are largely shaped by evolution. Here, we review work on energy expenditure across the animal kingdom, with a particular focus on endotherms, and examine recent advances in primate energetics. Relative to other placental mammals, primates have low TEE, which may drive their slow pace of life and be an evolved response to the challenges presented by their ecologies and environments. TEE variation among hominoid primates appears to reflect adaptive shifts in energy throughput and allocation in response to ecological pressures. As the taxonomic breadth and depth of TEE data expand, we will be able to test additional hypotheses about how energy budgets are shaped by environmental pressures and explore the more proximal mechanisms that drive intra-specific variation in energy expenditure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda McGrosky
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - Herman Pontzer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.,Duke Global Health Institute, Durham, NC 27708, USA
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4
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Simons MJP, Sebire M, Verhulst S, Groothuis TGG. Androgen Elevation Accelerates Reproductive Senescence in Three-Spined Stickleback. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 9:752352. [PMID: 34977010 PMCID: PMC8718761 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.752352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Costs of reproduction shape the life-history evolution of investment in current and future reproduction and thereby aging. Androgens have been proposed to regulate the physiology governing these investments. Furthermore, androgens are hypothesized to play a central role in carotenoid-dependent sexual signaling, regulating how much carotenoids are diverted to ornamentation and away from somatic maintenance, increasing oxidative stress, and accelerating aging. We investigated these relationships in male three-spined stickleback in which we elevated 11-ketotestosterone and supplied vitamin E, an antioxidant, in a 2 × 2 design. Androgen elevation shortened the time stickleback maintained reproductive activities. We suspect that this effect is caused by 11-ketotestosterone stimulating investment in current reproduction, but we detected no evidence for this in our measurements of reproductive effort: nest building, body composition, and breeding coloration. Carotenoid-dependent coloration was even slightly decreased by 11-ketotestosterone elevation and was left unaffected by vitamin E. Red coloration correlated with life expectancy and reproductive capacity in a quadratic manner, suggesting overinvestment of the individuals exhibiting the reddest bellies. In contrast, blue iris color showed a negative relationship with survival, suggesting physiological costs of producing this aspect of nuptial coloration. In conclusion, our results support the hypothesis that androgens regulate investment in current versus future reproduction, yet the precise mechanisms remain elusive. The quadratic relationships between sexual signal expression and aspects of quality have wider consequences for how we view sexual selection on ornamentation and its relationship with aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirre J P Simons
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Marion Sebire
- The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Weymouth, United Kingdom
| | - Simon Verhulst
- Behavioural Biology, Centre for Behaviour and Neuroscience, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Ton G G Groothuis
- Behavioural Biology, Centre for Behaviour and Neuroscience, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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5
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6
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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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7
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Antunes DF, Teles MC, Zuelling M, Friesen CN, Oliveira RF, Aubin‐Horth N, Taborsky B. Early social deprivation shapes neuronal programming of the social decision-making network in a cooperatively breeding fish. Mol Ecol 2021; 30:4118-4132. [PMID: 34133783 PMCID: PMC8457231 DOI: 10.1111/mec.16019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Revised: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
The early social environment an animal experiences may have pervasive effects on its behaviour. The social decision-making network (SDMN), consisting of interconnected brain nuclei from the forebrain and midbrain, is involved in the regulation of behaviours during social interactions. In species with advanced sociality such as cooperative breeders, offspring are exposed to a large number and a great diversity of social interactions every day of their early life. This diverse social environment may have life-long consequences on the development of several neurophysiological systems within the SDMN, although these effects are largely unknown. We studied these life-long effects in a cooperatively breeding fish, Neolamprologus pulcher, focusing on the expression of genes involved in the monoaminergic and stress response systems in the SDMN. N. pulcher fry were raised until an age of 2 months either with their parents, subordinate helpers and same-clutch siblings (+F), or with same-clutch siblings only (-F). Analysis of the expression of glucocorticoid receptor, mineralocorticoid receptor, corticotropin releasing factor, dopamine receptors 1 and 2, serotonin transporter and DNA methyltransferase 1 genes showed that early social experiences altered the neurogenomic profile of the preoptic area. Moreover, the dopamine receptor 1 gene was up-regulated in the preoptic area of -F fish compared to +F fish. -F fish also showed up-regulation of GR1 expression in the dorsal medial telencephalon (functional equivalent to the basolateral amygdala), and in the dorsolateral telencephalon (functional equivalent to the hippocampus). Our results suggest that early social environment has life-long effects on the development of several neurophysiological systems within the SDMN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diogo F. Antunes
- Division of Behavioural EcologyInstitute of Ecology and EvolutionUniversity of BernHinterkappelenSwitzerland
| | - Magda C. Teles
- Instituto Gulbenkian de CiênciaOeirasPortugal
- ISPA‐Instituto UniversitárioLisbonPortugal
| | - Matthew Zuelling
- Division of Evolutionary EcologyInstitute of Ecology and EvolutionUniversity of BernHinterkappelenSwitzerland
| | - Caitlin N. Friesen
- Department of Integrative BiologyThe University of Texas at AustinAustinTXUSA
| | - Rui F. Oliveira
- Instituto Gulbenkian de CiênciaOeirasPortugal
- ISPA‐Instituto UniversitárioLisbonPortugal
- Champalimaud ResearchLisbonPortugal
| | - Nadia Aubin‐Horth
- Département de Biologie et Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes (IBIS)Université LavalQuébecQCCanada
| | - Barbara Taborsky
- Division of Behavioural EcologyInstitute of Ecology and EvolutionUniversity of BernHinterkappelenSwitzerland
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8
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Downing PA, Griffin AS, Cornwallis CK. Hard-working helpers contribute to long breeder lifespans in cooperative birds. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20190742. [PMID: 33678023 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In many species that raise young in cooperative groups, breeders live an exceptionally long time despite high investment in offspring production. How is this possible given the expected trade-off between survival and reproduction? One possibility is that breeders extend their lifespans by outsourcing parental care to non-reproductive group members. Having help lightens breeder workloads and the energy that is saved can be allocated to survival instead. We tested this hypothesis using phylogenetic meta-analysis across 23 cooperatively breeding bird species. We found that breeders with helpers had higher rates of annual survival than those without helpers (8% on average). Increased breeder survival was correlated with reduced investment in feeding offspring, which in turn depended on the proportion of feeding provided by helpers. Helpers had similar effects on female and male breeder survival. Our results indicate that one of the secrets to a long life is reduced investment in parental care. This appears to be a unique feature of cooperative societies with hard-working helpers. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ageing and sociality: why, when and how does sociality change ageing patterns?'
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9
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Brood sex ratio modulates the effects of extra food on parental effort and sibling competition in a sexually dimorphic raptor. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-02970-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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10
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Bekmansurov RK. Dynamics of the Onset of White-Tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) Breeding in the Central Part of the Volga–Kama Region and Possible Explanations. BIOL BULL+ 2021. [DOI: 10.1134/s1062359020070031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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11
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Bakaloudis DE, Papakosta MA, Guy-Yosef M, Kosicki JZ, Goutner V, Vlachos CG, Yosef R. Sibling competition affects body condition and allostatic load in the colonial nesting lesser kestrel Falco naumanni. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.25225/jvb.19058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Dimitrios E. Bakaloudis
- School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece; e-mail: , ,
| | - Malamati A. Papakosta
- School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece; e-mail: , ,
| | - Maya Guy-Yosef
- Department of Biostatistics, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel; e-mail:
| | - Jakub Z. Kosicki
- Department of Avian Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, 61 614 Poznań, Poland; e-mail:
| | - Vassilis Goutner
- Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece; e-mail:
| | - Christos G. Vlachos
- School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece; e-mail: , ,
| | - Reuven Yosef
- Ben Gurion University of the Negev – Eilat Campus, P.O. Box 272, 88000 Eilat, Israel; e-mail:
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12
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Smith MG, Riehl C. Intermittent breeding is associated with breeding group turnover in a cooperatively breeding bird. Oecologia 2020; 192:953-963. [PMID: 32285196 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-020-04635-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 03/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Intermittent breeding, in which an adult skips a breeding opportunity, can represent a non-adaptive constraint or an adaptive response to the tradeoff between current and future reproduction. In group-living animals, the social group may also affect the frequency of reproduction, but this possibility has received little attention. Here we use an 11-year data set to investigate intermittent breeding in the greater ani (Crotophaga major), a tropical bird that nests in stable breeding groups containing several unrelated co-breeding females. Population-wide, an average of 62% of females laid eggs in a given year (range 35-84%), and the average female failed to lay eggs once every 3.2 years. We found little support for the hypothesis that intermittent breeding reflects a tradeoff between current and future reproduction: breeding in year t did not affect a female's likelihood of breeding in year t + 1, and clutch size in year t did not affect clutch size in year t + 1. Increases in clutch size were associated with decreases in egg mass for eggs laid at the end of that clutch, but this did not affect subsequent nesting attempts. However, reproductive skipping was associated with changes in group membership. Females whose groups changed in composition after year t were significantly less likely to breed in year t + 1 than females whose groups remained stable. These results indicate that breeding group stability influences the frequency of reproduction, suggesting that transitions between groups may be costly to females and their mates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria G Smith
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA
| | - Christina Riehl
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
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13
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Boonekamp JJ, Bauch C, Verhulst S. Experimentally increased brood size accelerates actuarial senescence and increases subsequent reproductive effort in a wild bird population. J Anim Ecol 2020; 89:1395-1407. [PMID: 32037534 PMCID: PMC7317873 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The assumption that reproductive effort decreases somatic state, accelerating ageing, is central to our understanding of life‐history variation. Maximal reproductive effort early in life is predicted to be maladaptive by accelerating ageing disproportionally, decreasing fitness. Optimality theory predicts that reproductive effort is restrained early in life to balance the fitness contribution of reproduction against the survival cost induced by the reproductive effort. When adaptive, the level of reproductive restraint is predicted to be inversely linked to the remaining life expectancy, potentially resulting in a terminal effort in the last period of reproduction. Experimental tests of the reproductive restraint hypothesis require manipulation of somatic state and subsequent investigation of reproductive effort and residual life span. To our knowledge the available evidence remains inconclusive, and hence reproductive restraint remains to be demonstrated. We modulated somatic state through a lifelong brood size manipulation in wild jackdaws and measured its consequences for age‐dependent mortality and reproductive success. The assumption that lifelong increased brood size reduced somatic state was supported: Birds rearing enlarged broods showed subsequent increased rate of actuarial senescence, resulting in reduced residual life span. The treatment induced a reproductive response in later seasons: Egg volume and nestling survival were higher in subsequent seasons in the increased versus reduced broods' treatment group. We detected these increases in egg volume and nestling survival despite the expectation that in the absence of a change in reproductive effort, the reduced somatic state indicated by the increased mortality rate would result in lower reproductive output. This leads us to conclude that the higher reproductive success we observed was the result of higher reproductive effort. Our findings show that reproductive effort negatively covaries with remaining life expectancy, supporting optimality theory and confirming reproductive restraint as a key factor underpinning life‐history variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jelle J Boonekamp
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.,Centre for Ecology & Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - Christina Bauch
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Simon Verhulst
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
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14
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Cox AR, Robertson RJ, Lendvai ÁZ, Everitt K, Bonier F. Rainy springs linked to poor nestling growth in a declining avian aerial insectivore ( Tachycineta bicolor). Proc Biol Sci 2020; 286:20190018. [PMID: 30862285 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.0018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
As species shift their ranges and phenology to cope with climate change, many are left without a ready supply of their preferred food source during critical life stages. Food shortages are often assumed to be driven by reduced total food abundance, but here we propose that climate change may cause short-term food shortages for foraging specialists without affecting overall food availability. We frame this hypothesis around the special case of birds that forage on flying insects for whom effects mediated by their shared food resource have been proposed to cause avian aerial insectivores' decline worldwide. Flying insects are inactive during cold, wet or windy conditions, effectively reducing food availability to zero even if insect abundance remains otherwise unchanged. Using long-term monitoring data from a declining population of tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor), we show that nestlings' body mass declined substantially from 1977 to 2017. In 2017, nestlings had lower body mass if it rained during the preceding 3 days, though females increased provisioning rates, potentially in an attempt to compensate. Adult body mass, particularly that of the males, has also declined over the long-term study. Mean rainfall during the nestling period has increased by 9.3 ± 0.3 mm decade-1, potentially explaining declining nestling body mass and population declines. Therefore, we suggest that reduced food availability, distinct from food abundance, may be an important and previously overlooked consequence of climate change, which could be affecting populations of species that specialize on foraging on flying insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia R Cox
- 1 Department of Biology, Queen's University , Kingston, Ontario , Canada
| | | | - Ádám Z Lendvai
- 2 Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen , Debrecen , Hungary.,3 Department of Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University , Cluj-Napoca , Romania
| | - Kennedy Everitt
- 1 Department of Biology, Queen's University , Kingston, Ontario , Canada
| | - Frances Bonier
- 1 Department of Biology, Queen's University , Kingston, Ontario , Canada
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15
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Variable parental responses to changes in offspring demand have implications for life history theory. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2747-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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16
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Mutzel A, Olsen AL, Mathot KJ, Araya-Ajoy YG, Nicolaus M, Wijmenga JJ, Wright J, Kempenaers B, Dingemanse NJ. Effects of manipulated levels of predation threat on parental provisioning and nestling begging. Behav Ecol 2019; 30:1123-1135. [PMID: 31289429 PMCID: PMC6606999 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2018] [Revised: 03/19/2019] [Accepted: 04/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Parental provisioning behavior is a major determinant of offspring growth and survival, but high provisioning rates might come at the cost of increased predation threat. Parents should thus adjust provisioning activity according to current predation threat levels. Moreover, life-history theory predicts that response to predation threat should be correlated with investment in current reproduction. We experimentally manipulated perceived predation threat in free-living great tits (Parus major) by presenting parents with a nest predator model while monitoring different aspects of provisioning behavior and nestling begging. Experiments were conducted in 2 years differing greatly in ecological conditions, including food availability. We further quantified male territorial aggressiveness and male and female exploratory tendency. Parents adjusted provisioning according to current levels of threat in an apparently adaptive way. They delayed nest visits during periods of elevated perceived predation threat and subsequently compensated for lost feeding opportunities by increasing provisioning once the immediate threat had diminished. Nestling begging increased after elevated levels of predation threat, but returned to baseline levels by the end of the experiment, suggesting that parents had fully compensated for lost feeding opportunities. There was no evidence for a link between male exploration behavior or aggressiveness and provisioning behavior. In contrast, fast-exploring females provisioned at higher rates, but only in the year with poor environmental conditions, which might indicate a greater willingness to invest in current reproduction in general. Future work should assess whether these personality-related differences in delivery rates under harsher conditions came at a cost of reduced residual reproductive value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariane Mutzel
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Anne-Lise Olsen
- Department of Biology, Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Kimberley J Mathot
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Yimen G Araya-Ajoy
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Biology, Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Marion Nicolaus
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Jan J Wijmenga
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Jonathan Wright
- Department of Biology, Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Bart Kempenaers
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Niels J Dingemanse
- Research Group Evolutionary Ecology of Variation, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
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17
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Kloskowski J. An avian equivalent of selective abortion: postlaying clutch reduction under resource limitation. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Janusz Kloskowski
- Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland
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18
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Culina A, Linton DM, Pradel R, Bouwhuis S, Macdonald DW. Live fast, don't die young: Survival-reproduction trade-offs in long-lived income breeders. J Anim Ecol 2019; 88:746-756. [PMID: 30737781 PMCID: PMC6850603 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Trade-offs between survival and reproduction are at the core of life-history theory, and essential to understanding the evolution of reproductive tactics as well as population dynamics and stability. Factors influencing these trade-offs are multiple and often addressed in isolation. Further problems arise as reproductive states and survival in wild populations are estimated based on imperfect and potentially biased observation processes, which might lead to flawed conclusions. In this study, we aimed at elucidating trade-offs between current reproduction (both pregnancy and lactation), survival and future reproduction, including the specific costs of first reproduction, in long-lived, income breeding small mammals, an under-studied group. We developed a novel statistical framework that encapsulates the breeding life cycle of females, and accounts for incomplete information on female pregnancy and lactation and imperfect and biased recapture rates. We applied this framework to longitudinal data on two sympatric, closely related bat species (Myotis daubentonii and M. nattereri). We revealed the existence of several, to our knowledge previously unknown, trends in survival and breeding of these closely related, sympatric species and detected remarkable differences in their age and costs of first reproduction, as well as their survival-reproduction trade-offs. Our results indicate that species with this type of life history exhibit a mixture of patterns expected for long-lived and short-lived animals, and between income and capital breeders. Thus, we call for more studies to be conducted in similar study systems, increasing our ability to fully understand the evolutionary origin and fitness effects of trade-offs and senescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antica Culina
- WildCRU, Zoology DepartmentThe Recanati‐Kaplan CentreUniversity of OxfordTubney, AbingdonUK
- Netherlands Institute of EcologyNIOO‐KNAWWageningenNetherlands
| | - Danielle Marie Linton
- WildCRU, Zoology DepartmentThe Recanati‐Kaplan CentreUniversity of OxfordTubney, AbingdonUK
| | - Roger Pradel
- CEFE UMR 5175CNRS Université de MontpellierUniversité Paul‐ Valery MontpellierEPHEMontpellier Cedex 05France
| | | | - David W. Macdonald
- WildCRU, Zoology DepartmentThe Recanati‐Kaplan CentreUniversity of OxfordTubney, AbingdonUK
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19
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Leach AG, Sedinger JS, Riecke TV, Van Dellen AW, Ward DH, Boyd WS. Brood Size Affects Future Reproduction in a Long-Lived Bird with Precocial Young. Am Nat 2019; 193:458-471. [DOI: 10.1086/701783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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20
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Mishra I, Kumar V. The quantity-quality trade-off: differential effects of daily food times on reproductive performance and offspring quality in diurnal zebra finches. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.196667. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.196667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2018] [Accepted: 02/27/2019] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Abundant food supply is crucial to reproductive performance, as shown by restricted food availability experiments, in small-sized vertebrates including birds. However, whether daily times of feeding would affect the reproduction is largely unknown. Present study investigated the effects of daily food availability times on reproductive performance and quality of eggs and offspring survivors in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). To randomly paired birds kept under 12 h light per day for about 52 weeks, food availability period was restricted to 4 h in morning (FA-M) or evening (FA-E), with controls on food ad libitum; thus, daily food deprivation period began after 4 h of food in FA-M and was continuous with nighttime starvation in FA-E. Both food restrictions adversely affected reproductive health as shown by reduced sex steroids and mesotocin levels, but not general metabolism as indicated by no-difference in thyroxin and triiodothyronine levels. Food for 4 h negatively affected the reproductive performance, although with differences between FA-M and FA-E pairs. Particularly, there was delayed onset of reproduction and compromised reproductive success in FA-E, but not in FA-M pairs; conversely, the offspring health was severely compromised in FA-M, but not in FA-E pairs. Furthermore, FA-M females were in better health, implicating sex-biasness in parental food provisioning. Overall, we demonstrate trade-off of ‘quantity’ (offspring produced and/ or survived) for ‘quality’ (how good offspring were in health) in response to daily food availability times in zebra finches that much like humans are diurnal and retain the ability to reproduce throughout the year.
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Affiliation(s)
- I. Mishra
- Department of Zoology, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110 007, India
| | - V. Kumar
- Department of Zoology, University of Delhi, Delhi – 110 007, India
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21
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Graham JL, Bauer CM, Heidinger BJ, Ketterson ED, Greives TJ. Early-breeding females experience greater telomere loss. Mol Ecol 2019; 28:114-126. [PMID: 30565787 DOI: 10.1111/mec.14952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2018] [Revised: 10/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/22/2018] [Indexed: 08/02/2024]
Abstract
Annual reproductive success is often highest in individuals that initiate breeding early, yet relatively few individuals start breeding during this apparently optimal time. This suggests that individuals, particularly females who ultimately dictate when offspring are born, incur costs by initiating reproduction early in the season. We hypothesized that increases in the ageing rate of somatic cells may be one such cost. Telomeres, the repetitive DNA sequences on the ends of chromosomes, may be good proxies of biological wear and tear as they shorten with age and in response to stress. Using historical data from a long-term study population of dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), we found that telomere loss between years was greater in earlier breeding females, regardless of chronological age. There was no relationship between telomere loss and the annual number of eggs laid or chicks that reached independence. However, telomere loss was greater when temperatures were cooler, and cooler temperatures generally occur early in the season. This suggests that environmental conditions could be the primary cause of accelerated telomere loss in early breeders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica L Graham
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
| | - Carolyn M Bauer
- Department of Biology, Adelphi University, Garden City, New York
| | - Britt J Heidinger
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
| | | | - Timothy J Greives
- Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota
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22
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Gil D, Alfonso-Iñiguez S, Pérez-Rodríguez L, Muriel J, Monclús R. Harsh conditions during early development influence telomere length in an altricial passerine: Links with oxidative stress and corticosteroids. J Evol Biol 2018; 32:111-125. [PMID: 30387533 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2016] [Revised: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 10/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Stress during early development can induce substantial long-term effects in organisms. In the case of birds, despite growth compensations, nestlings reared under harsh conditions typically show reduced survival chances in adulthood. It has been proposed that environmental early-life stressors could affect longevity via effects on telomere length, possibly mediated through oxidative stress. However, the link between these processes is not clear. In this study, we experimentally manipulated brood size in spotless starlings (Sturnus unicolor) to test the causal relationship between early stress, oxidative and corticosterone-mediated stress and telomere shortening. Our results show that experimentally enlarged brood sizes led to a reduction in morphometric development on nestlings, the effect being stronger for females than males. Additionally, basal corticosterone levels increased with increasing brood size in female nestlings. Neither plasma antioxidant status nor malondialdehyde levels (a marker of lipid peroxidation) were affected by experimental brood size, although the levels of a key intracellular antioxidant (glutathione) decreased with increasing brood size. We found that the treatment showed a quadratic effect on nestling telomere lengths: these were shortened either by increases or by decreases in the original brood size. Our study provides experimental evidence for a link between developmental stress and telomere length, but does not support a direct causal link of this reduction with corticosterone or oxidative stress. We suggest that future studies should focus on how telomere length responds to additional markers of allostatic load.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Gil
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Sergio Alfonso-Iñiguez
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez
- Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, Spain
| | - Jaime Muriel
- Departamento de Anatomía, Biología Celular y Zoología, Universidad de Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
| | - Raquel Monclús
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, University of Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
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23
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López-Idiáquez D, Vergara P, Fargallo JA, Martínez-Padilla J. Providing longer post-fledging periods increases offspring survival at the expense of future fecundity. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0203152. [PMID: 30199538 PMCID: PMC6130873 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 08/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The cost of reproduction is a key concept in life-history trade-offs. However, our understanding of the reproductive costs is biased towards measures of reproductive effort obtained before offspring independence. During the post-fledging dependence period (PFDP), it is well known that parents feed and protect their offspring. However, the effort devoted to this reproductive activity has never been considered in the context of of the costs of reproduction. Moreover, the potential fitness benefits and costs for offspring and parents, respectively, of the duration of the PFDP are largely unknown. We estimated the duration of the PFDP over 5 years using wild common kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) and studied its association with survival probability and future parental reproductive performance. Our results show that longer PFDPs increase the survival probability of fledglings, probably due to the benefits obtained from parental care. In addition, we found that providing longer PFDPs was associated with reduced clutch sizes but not the number of fledglings in the subsequent breeding season in males. We suggest that increased parental expenditures on offspring during the PFDP may represent a potential cost of reproduction in breeding males.
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Affiliation(s)
- David López-Idiáquez
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Ecology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
| | - Pablo Vergara
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan Antonio Fargallo
- Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain
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24
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Fokkema RW, Ubels R, Both C, de Felici L, Tinbergen JM. Reproductive effort and future parental competitive ability: A nest box removal experiment. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:8865-8879. [PMID: 30271551 PMCID: PMC6157679 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2018] [Revised: 06/05/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The life history trade-off between current and future reproduction is a theoretically well-established concept. However, empirical evidence for the occurrence of a fitness cost of reproduction is mixed. Evidence indicates that parents only pay a cost of reproduction when local competition is high. In line with this, recent experimental work on a small passerine bird, the Great tit (Parus major) showed that reproductive effort negatively affected the competitive ability of parents, estimated through competition for high quality breeding sites in spring. In the current study, we further investigate the negative causal relationship between reproductive effort and future parental competitive ability, with the aim to quantify the consequences for parental fitness, when breeding sites are scarce. To this end, we (a) manipulated the family size of Great tit parents and (b) induced severe competition for nest boxes among the parents just before the following breeding season by means of a large-scale nest box removal experiment. Parents increased their feeding effort in response to our family size manipulation and we successfully induced competition among the parents the following spring. Against our expectation, we found no effect of last season's family size on the ability of parents to secure a scarce nest box for breeding. In previous years, if detected, the survival cost of reproduction was always paid after midwinter. In this year, parents did pay a survival cost of reproduction before midwinter and thus before the onset of the experiment in early spring. Winter food availability during our study year was exceptionally low, and thus, competition in early winter may have been extraordinarily high. We hypothesize that differences in parental competitive ability due to their previous reproductive effort might have played a role, but before the onset of our experiment and resulted in the payment of the survival cost of reproduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rienk W. Fokkema
- Conservation Ecology GroupGroningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES)University of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
- Evolutionary BiologyBielefeld UniversityBielefeldGermany
- Department of Animal BehaviourBielefeld UniversityBielefeldGermany
| | - Richard Ubels
- Conservation Ecology GroupGroningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES)University of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
| | - Christiaan Both
- Conservation Ecology GroupGroningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES)University of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
| | - Livia de Felici
- Conservation Ecology GroupGroningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES)University of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
| | - Joost M. Tinbergen
- Conservation Ecology GroupGroningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES)University of GroningenGroningenThe Netherlands
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25
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Luka V, Riegert J. Apodemus mice as the main prey that determines reproductive output of tawny owl (Strix aluco) in Central Europe. POPUL ECOL 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10144-018-0611-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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26
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Tieleman BI. Understanding immune function as a pace of life trait requires environmental context. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2018; 72:55. [PMID: 29563662 PMCID: PMC5843675 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-018-2464-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2017] [Revised: 11/09/2017] [Accepted: 02/07/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
This article provides a brief historical perspective on the integration of physiology into the concept of the pace of life of birds, evaluates the fit of immune function into this framework, and asks what it will take to fruitfully understand immune functioning of birds in pace of life studies in the future. In the late 1970s, physiology started to seriously enter avian life history ecology, with energy as the main currency of interest, inspired by David Lack's work in the preceding decades emphasizing how food availability explained life history variation. In an effort to understand the trade-off between survival and reproduction, and specifically the mortality costs associated with hard work, in the 1980s and 1990s, other physiological phenomena entered the realm of animal ecologists, including endocrinology, oxidative stress, and immunology. Reviewing studies thus far to evaluate the role of immune function in a life history context and particularly to address the questions whether immune function (1) consistently varies with life history variation among free-living bird species and (2) mediates life history trade-offs in experiments with free-living bird species; I conclude that, unlike energy metabolism, the immune system does not closely covary with life history among species nor mediates the classical trade-offs within individuals. Instead, I propose that understanding the tremendous immunological variation uncovered among free-living birds over the past 25 years requires a paradigm shift. The paradigm should shift from viewing immune function as a costly trait involved in life history trade-offs to explicitly including the benefits of the immune system and placing it firmly in an environmental and ecological context. A first step forward will be to quantify the immunobiotic pressures presented by diverse environmental circumstances that both shape and challenge the immune system of free-living animals. Current developments in the fields of infectious wildlife diseases and host-microbe interactions provide promising steps in this direction.
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Affiliation(s)
- B. Irene Tieleman
- Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 CC Groningen, The Netherlands
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27
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Saino N, Ambrosini R, Rubolini D, Romano M, Caprioli M, Romano A, Parolini M. Carry-over effects of brood size on morphology, reproduction, and lifespan in barn swallows. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-018-2446-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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28
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Germain M, Pärt T, Gustafsson L, Doligez B. Natal dispersers pay a lifetime cost to increased reproductive effort in a wild bird population. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2016.2445. [PMID: 28330917 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2016] [Accepted: 02/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Natal dispersal is assumed to be costly. Such costs can be difficult to detect, and fitness consequences of dispersal are therefore poorly known. Because of lower phenotypic quality and/or familiarity with the environment, natal dispersers may be less buffered against a sudden increase in reproductive effort. Consequently, reproductive costs associated with natal dispersal may mostly be detected in harsh breeding conditions. We tested this prediction by comparing lifetime reproductive success between natal dispersers and non-dispersers in a patchy population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) when they reared either a non-manipulated brood or an experimentally increased or decreased brood. Natal dispersers achieved lower lifetime reproductive success than non-dispersers only under more stressful breeding conditions (i.e. when brood size was experimentally increased). This was mostly due to a lower number of recruits produced in the year of the increase. Our results suggest a cost associated with natal dispersal paid immediately after an increase in reproductive effort and not subsequently compensated for through increased survival or future offspring recruitment. Natal dispersers adjusted their breeding investment when reproductive effort is as predicted but seemed unable to efficiently face a sudden increase in effort, which could affect the influence of environmental predictability on dispersal evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion Germain
- UMR 5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, CNRS, Université de Lyon, F69000, Lyon; Université Lyon 1, 18 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, F69622 Villeurbanne, France .,Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.,Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 2, 69000 Lyon, France
| | - Tomas Pärt
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7044, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Lars Gustafsson
- Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Blandine Doligez
- UMR 5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, CNRS, Université de Lyon, F69000, Lyon; Université Lyon 1, 18 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, F69622 Villeurbanne, France
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29
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Vedder O, Bouwhuis S. Heterogeneity in individual quality in birds: overall patterns and insights from a study on common terns. OIKOS 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.04273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Oscar Vedder
- Inst. of Avian Research ‘Vogelwarte Helgoland’, An der Vogelwarte 21, DE-26386; Wilhelmshaven Germany
- Groningen Inst. for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Univ. of Groningen, PO Box 11103; NL-9700 CC Groningen the Netherlands
| | - Sandra Bouwhuis
- Groningen Inst. for Evolutionary Life Sciences, Univ. of Groningen, PO Box 11103; NL-9700 CC Groningen the Netherlands
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30
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Apparent survival and cost of reproduction for White-lined Tanager (Tachyphonus rufus, Thraupidae) in the northern Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0185890. [PMID: 29016633 PMCID: PMC5634591 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185890] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2017] [Accepted: 09/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding latitudinal variation in avian life-history traits has been a focus of many demographic studies around the world. However, we still know little about annual or intra-annual demographic variation within tropical regions or about how factors such as breeding season and precipitation influence demographic rates. In this study, we estimated intra-annual apparent survival of the White-lined Tanager (Tachyphonus rufus) using capture-mark-recapture data from northeastern Brazil. We tested whether survival varied seasonally (breeding vs. non-breeding), with rainfall, by age and residence status in our study area. Intra-annual apparent survival was correlated with the reproductive cycle, being lower during the breeding (0.65 ± 0.16 SE) vs. the non-breeding season (0.97 ± 0.05 SE). The annual apparent survival (~0.6) was relatively low for a tropical species. In both years, we observed highest abundance in spring (November, 3.1-3.7 birds/ha) and lowest abundance in autumn-winter periods (May-August, 1.1-1.4 bird/ha). The low survival during the breeding season probably reflects the trade-off between survival and reproduction and the cost of reproduction. Our findings represent an advance in the understanding of the demography of tropical birds because we did not find a predicted high annual apparent survival, and we elucidated some aspects of intra-annual variation in survival. Further exploration of latitudinal variation in demographic traits, especially in diverse, but poorly known habitats is needed to fully vet and develop life history theories.
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31
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Dagg JL. How counterfactuals of Red-Queen theory shed light on science and its historiography. STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES 2017; 64:53-64. [PMID: 28683340 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2016] [Revised: 06/02/2017] [Accepted: 06/05/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
A historical episode of evolutionary theory, which has lead to the Red Queen theory of the evolutionary maintenance of sex, includes two striking contingencies. These are used to explore alternative what-if scenarios, in order to test some common opinions about such counterfactuals. This sheds new light on the nature of science and its historiography. One counterfactual leads to an unexpected convergence of its result to that of the actual science but, nevertheless, differs in its causal structure. The other diverges towards an incompatible alternative, but this requires further contingent choices that also diverge from actual science. The convergence in the first counterfactual is due to a horizontal transfer of knowledge. Similar transfers of knowledge are typical for innovations of actual science. This suggests that contingent choices can merge as well as fork research traditions both in actual research and counterfactual history. Neither the paths of the actual history of science nor those of its counterfactual alternatives will form a tree of exclusively diverging bifurcations, but a network instead. Convergencies in counterfactuals may, therefore, be due to the web-structure of science as much as to the aims of the historians in question. Furthermore, the difference in causal structure between the actual science and its convergent counterfactual might become diagnostic for external factors rather than internal aims forcing a historian towards convergence.
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32
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33
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Vitousek MN, Jenkins BR, Hubbard JK, Kaiser SA, Safran RJ. An experimental test of the effect of brood size on glucocorticoid responses, parental investment, and offspring phenotype. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2017; 247:97-106. [PMID: 28137535 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2017.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Accepted: 01/20/2017] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Because elevated glucocorticoid levels can impair reproduction, populations or species that engage in particularly valuable reproductive attempts may down-regulate the glucocorticoid stress response during reproduction (the brood value hypothesis). It is not clear, however, whether individuals rapidly modulate glucocorticoid responses based on shifting cues about the likelihood of reproductive success. By manipulating brood size to create broods that differed in potential value, we tested whether female barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) rapidly modulated the glucocorticoid stress response to promote investment in high-value broods, and whether nestling phenotype was influenced by treatment. Within-individual changes in female corticosterone, body mass, and measures of oxidative stress were unrelated to brood size treatment. Standard offspring provisioning rate did not differ across treatments; however, in the presence of a model predator, females raising enlarged broods maintained higher offspring feeding rates relative to control broods. Brood size did influence nestling phenotype. Nestlings from enlarged broods had lower body mass and higher baseline corticosterone than those from reduced broods. Finally, in adult females both baseline and stress-induced corticosterone were individually repeatable. Thus, while under moderately challenging environmental conditions brood size manipulations had context-dependent effects on parental investment, and influenced nestling phenotype, maternal glucocorticoid levels were not modulated based on brood value but were individually consistent features of phenotype during breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maren N Vitousek
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
| | - Brittany R Jenkins
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Joanna K Hubbard
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Sara A Kaiser
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA; Center for Conservation Genomics, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Rebecca J Safran
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
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34
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Braziotis S, Liordos V, Bakaloudis DE, Goutner V, Papakosta MA, Vlachos CG. Patterns of postnatal growth in a small falcon, the lesser kestrel Falco naumanni (Fleischer, 1818) (Aves: Falconidae). THE EUROPEAN ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/24750263.2017.1329359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- S. Braziotis
- School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
- Hellenic Hunters Confederation, Greece
| | - V. Liordos
- Department of Forestry and Natural Environment Management, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology, Greece
| | - D. E. Bakaloudis
- School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - V. Goutner
- Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - M. A. Papakosta
- School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - C. G. Vlachos
- School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Laboratory of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
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35
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Apfelbeck B, Helm B, Illera JC, Mortega KG, Smiddy P, Evans NP. Baseline and stress-induced levels of corticosterone in male and female Afrotropical and European temperate stonechats during breeding. BMC Evol Biol 2017; 17:114. [PMID: 28532466 PMCID: PMC5441054 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-0960-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2017] [Accepted: 05/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Latitudinal variation in avian life histories falls along a slow-fast pace of life continuum: tropical species produce small clutches, but have a high survival probability, while in temperate species the opposite pattern is found. This study investigated whether differential investment into reproduction and survival of tropical and temperate species is paralleled by differences in the secretion of the vertebrate hormone corticosterone (CORT). Depending on circulating concentrations, CORT can both act as a metabolic (low to medium levels) and a stress hormone (high levels) and, thereby, influence reproductive decisions. Baseline and stress-induced CORT was measured across sequential stages of the breeding season in males and females of closely related taxa of stonechats (Saxicola spp) from a wide distribution area. We compared stonechats from 13 sites, representing Canary Islands, European temperate and East African tropical areas. Stonechats are highly seasonal breeders at all these sites, but vary between tropical and temperate regions with regard to reproductive investment and presumably also survival. Results In accordance with life-history theory, during parental stages, post-capture (baseline) CORT was overall lower in tropical than in temperate stonechats. However, during mating stages, tropical males had elevated post-capture (baseline) CORT concentrations, which did not differ from those of temperate males. Female and male mates of a pair showed correlated levels of post-capture CORT when sampled after simulated territorial intrusions. In contrast to the hypothesis that species with low reproduction and high annual survival should be more risk-sensitive, tropical stonechats had lower stress-induced CORT concentrations than temperate stonechats. We also found relatively high post-capture (baseline) and stress-induced CORT concentrations, in slow-paced Canary Islands stonechats. Conclusions Our data support and refine the view that baseline CORT facilitates energetically demanding activities in males and females and reflects investment into reproduction. Low parental workload was associated with lower post-capture (baseline) CORT as expected for a slow pace of life in tropical species. On a finer resolution, however, this tropical-temperate contrast did not generally hold. Post-capture (baseline) CORT was higher during mating stages in particular in tropical males, possibly to support the energetic needs of mate-guarding. Counter to predictions based on life history theory, our data do not confirm the hypothesis that long-lived tropical populations have higher stress-induced CORT concentrations than short-lived temperate populations. Instead, in the predator-rich tropical environments of African stonechats, a dampened stress response during parental stages may increase survival probabilities of young. Overall our data further support an association between life history and baseline CORT, but challenge the role of stress-induced CORT as a mediator of tropical-temperate variation in life history. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0960-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beate Apfelbeck
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, G12 8QQ, UK. .,Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Ecology and Ecosystemmanagement, Technische Universität München, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, D-85354, Freising, Germany.
| | - Barbara Helm
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Juan Carlos Illera
- Research Unit of Biodiversity (UO-CSIC-PA), Oviedo University, Campus of Mieres, 33600, Mieres, Spain
| | - Kim G Mortega
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, G12 8QQ, UK.,Department of Migration and Immunoecology, Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie, D-78315, Radolfzell, Germany
| | - Patrick Smiddy
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, T12 YN60, Ireland
| | - Neil P Evans
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, G12 8QQ, UK
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Grzędzicka E. Immune challenge of female great tits at nests affects provisioning and body conditions of their offspring. Acta Ethol 2017; 20:223-233. [PMID: 28955122 PMCID: PMC5591367 DOI: 10.1007/s10211-017-0265-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2016] [Revised: 05/10/2017] [Accepted: 05/15/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The trade-off between animal’s parental reproductive effort and survival is still poorly understood. Parental allocation between the workload during breeding attempts and the parents’ own body conditions can be assessed through the offspring quality. Here, I questioned whether the immune responsiveness of female great tits may be considered as a mediator of this trade-off. Specifically, I tested whether (1) the parental reproductive effort decreases, (2) the food composition provided to chicks changes, and (3) whether the nestling immunocompetence and body mass decrease after experimental immunisation. Two populations of great tit Parus major occupying nest boxes were studied in Niepołomice Forest and Krzyszkowice Forest (Southern Poland) in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Three days after hatching, half of the females were challenged with sheep red blood cells (SRBC), while other females were injected with phosphate-buffered saline PBS (control). Six days later, food provided by the parents was collected from nestlings. After another 2 days, the offspring’s body mass was measured and wing web swelling in response to an additional phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) injection. In both years, immunocompetence and in 2012 also body mass in the offspring of SRBC-immunised mothers were lower than in control nestlings, indicating a cost of mounting the immune response in the female. Six days after the start of the female treatment, the number of caterpillars and the volume of food items provided by parents to chicks were higher, whereas the number of spiders was lower in nests with SRBC treatment than in control ones. This might be explained by compensational parental feeding after recovery from the inflammation of a female. Thus, the trade-off between parental effort and survival of parents is mediated by the costs incurred for their immunity and can be assessed by the amount and quality of food provided to the nestlings and the offspring condition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Grzędzicka
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa Street 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland.,Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Mickiewicza 33, 31-120 Kraków, Poland
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37
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Colominas-Ciuró R, Santos M, Coria N, Barbosa A. Reproductive effort affects oxidative status and stress in an Antarctic penguin species: An experimental study. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0177124. [PMID: 28493935 PMCID: PMC5426717 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2016] [Accepted: 04/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The oxidative cost of reproduction has been a matter of debate in recent years presumably because of the lack of proper experimental studies. Based on the hypothesis that different brood sizes produce differential reproductive costs, an experimental manipulation during breeding of Adélie penguins was conducted at Hope Bay, Antarctica, to study oxidative status and stress. We predict that a lower reproductive effort should be positively related to low oxidative and physiological stress. We randomly assigned nests with two chicks to a control reproductive effort group (CRE), and by removing one chick from some nests with two chicks, formed a second, low reproductive effort group (LRE). We examined how oxidative status in blood plasma (reactive oxygen metabolites, ROMs, and total antioxidant capacity, OXY) and stress (heterophil/lymphocyte ratio, H/L) responded to a lower production of offspring total biomass. Our nest manipulation showed significant differences in offspring total biomass, which was lower in the LRE group. As predicted, the LRE group had higher antioxidant capacity than individuals in the CRE group. We have also found, although marginally significant, interactions between sex and treatment in the three variables analysed. Females had higher OXY, lower ROMs and lower H/L ratio when rearing one chick, whereas males did so when rearing two except for OXY which was high regardless of treatment. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between the H/L ratio and OXY in females. Finally, we have found a negative and significant relationship between the duration of the experiment and OXY and ROMs and positive with H/L ratio which suggests that indeed breeding penguins are paying an effort in physiological terms in relation to the duration of the chick rearing. In conclusion, a reduction of the reproductive effort decreased oxidative stress in this long-lived bird meaning that a link exists between breeding effort and oxidative stress. However, our findings suggest different sex strategies which results in opposite physiological responses presumably depending on different life-history strategies in males and females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger Colominas-Ciuró
- Depto. Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Calle de José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, Madrid, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Mercedes Santos
- Instituto Antártico Argentino–División Biología, Cerrito 1248 (1010), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Néstor Coria
- Instituto Antártico Argentino–División Biología, Cerrito 1248 (1010), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Andrés Barbosa
- Depto. Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Calle de José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, Madrid, Spain
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38
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Fokkema RW, Ubels R, Tinbergen JM. Is parental competitive ability in winter negatively affected by previous springs' family size? Ecol Evol 2017; 7:1410-1420. [PMID: 28261453 PMCID: PMC5330910 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2016] [Revised: 12/19/2016] [Accepted: 12/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Reproductive behavior cannot be understood without taking the local level of competition into account. Experimental work in great tits (Parus major) showed that (1) a survival cost of reproduction was paid in environments with high levels of competition during the winter period and (2) experimentally manipulated family size negatively affected the ability of parents to compete for preferred breeding boxes in the next spring. The fact that survival was affected in winter suggests that the competitive ability of parents in winter may also be affected by previous reproductive effort. In this study, we aim to investigate whether (1) such carryover effects of family size on the ability of parents to compete for resources in the winter period occurred and (2) this could explain the occurrence of a survival cost of reproduction under increased competition. During two study years, we manipulated the size of in total 168 great tit broods. Next, in winter, we induced competition among the parents by drastically reducing the availability of roosting boxes in their local environment for one week. Contrary to our expectation, we found no negative effect of family size manipulation on the probability of parents to obtain a roosting box. In line with previous work, we did find that a survival cost of reproduction was paid only in plots in which competition for roosting boxes was shortly increased. Our findings thus add to the scarce experimental evidence that survival cost of reproduction are paid under higher levels of local competition but this could not be linked to a reduced competitive ability of parents in winter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rienk W Fokkema
- Conservation Ecology Group Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences University of Groningen Groningen The Netherlands
| | - Richard Ubels
- Conservation Ecology Group Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences University of Groningen Groningen The Netherlands
| | - Joost M Tinbergen
- Conservation Ecology Group Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences University of Groningen Groningen The Netherlands
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39
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Griesser M, Wagner GF, Drobniak SM, Ekman J. Reproductive trade-offs in a long-lived bird species: condition-dependent reproductive allocation maintains female survival and offspring quality. J Evol Biol 2017; 30:782-795. [PMID: 28135017 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2016] [Revised: 01/18/2017] [Accepted: 01/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Life history theory is an essential framework to understand the evolution of reproductive allocation. It predicts that individuals of long-lived species favour their own survival over current reproduction, leading individuals to refrain from reproducing under harsh conditions. Here we test this prediction in a long-lived bird species, the Siberian jay Perisoreus infaustus. Long-term data revealed that females rarely refrain from breeding, but lay smaller clutches in unfavourable years. Neither offspring body size, female survival nor offspring survival until the next year was influenced by annual condition, habitat quality, clutch size, female age or female phenotype. Given that many nests failed due to nest predation, the variance in the number of fledglings was higher than the variance in the number of eggs and female survival. An experimental challenge with a novel pathogen before egg laying largely replicated these patterns in two consecutive years with contrasting conditions. Challenged females refrained from breeding only in the unfavourable year, but no downstream effects were found in either year. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that condition-dependent reproductive allocation may serve to maintain female survival and offspring quality, supporting patterns found in long-lived mammals. We discuss avenues to develop life history theory concerning strategies to offset reproductive costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Griesser
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.,Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - G F Wagner
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - S M Drobniak
- Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - J Ekman
- Department of Ecology and Genetic/Population Biology and Conservation Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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40
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Schrempf A, Giehr J, Röhrl R, Steigleder S, Heinze J. Royal Darwinian Demons: Enforced Changes in Reproductive Efforts Do Not Affect the Life Expectancy of Ant Queens. Am Nat 2017; 189:436-442. [PMID: 28350504 DOI: 10.1086/691000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
One of the central tenets of life-history theory is that organisms cannot simultaneously maximize all fitness components. This results in the fundamental trade-off between reproduction and life span known from numerous animals, including humans. Social insects are a well-known exception to this rule: reproductive queens outlive nonreproductive workers. Here, we take a step forward and show that under identical social and environmental conditions the fecundity-longevity trade-off is absent also within the queen caste. A change in reproduction did not alter life expectancy, and even a strong enforced increase in reproductive efforts did not reduce residual life span. Generally, egg-laying rate and life span were positively correlated. Queens of perennial social insects thus seem to maximize at the same time two fitness parameters that are normally negatively correlated. Even though they are not immortal, they best approach a hypothetical "Darwinian demon" in the animal kingdom.
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41
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Thomson CE, Bayer F, Crouch N, Farrell S, Heap E, Mittell E, Zurita-Cassinello M, Hadfield JD. Selection on parental performance opposes selection for larger body mass in a wild population of blue tits. Evolution 2017; 71:716-732. [PMID: 28106259 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/09/2016] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
There is abundant evidence in many taxa for positive directional selection on body size, and yet little evidence for microevolutionary change. In many species, variation in body size is partly determined by the actions of parents, so a proposed explanation for stasis is the presence of a negative genetic correlation between direct and parental effects. Consequently, selecting genes for increased body size would result in a correlated decline in parental effects, reducing body size in the following generation. We show that these arguments implicitly assume that parental care is cost free, and that including a cost alters the predicted genetic architectures needed to explain stasis. Using a large cross-fostered population of blue tits, we estimate direct selection on parental effects for body mass, and show it is negative. Negative selection is consistent with a cost to parental care, mainly acting through a reduction in current fecundity rather than survival. Under these conditions, evolutionary stasis is possible for moderately negative genetic correlations between direct and parental effects. This is in contrast to the implausibly extreme correlations needed when care is assumed to be cost-free. Thus, we highlight the importance of accounting correctly for complete selection acting on traits across generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline E Thomson
- Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.,Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Florian Bayer
- Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas Crouch
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Illinois, Illinois, USA
| | - Samantha Farrell
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Heap
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Mittell
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Mar Zurita-Cassinello
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Jarrod D Hadfield
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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42
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Estramil N, Groothuis TGG, Eens M, de Vries B, Müller W. Coadaptation of offspring begging and parental provisioning: A role for prenatal maternal effects? Horm Behav 2017; 87:129-136. [PMID: 27838359 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2016] [Revised: 11/02/2016] [Accepted: 11/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies on birds have shown that offspring begging and parental provisioning covary at the phenotypic level, which is thought to reflect genetic correlations. However, prenatal maternal factors, like yolk testosterone, may also facilitate parent-offspring coadaptation via their effects on offspring begging and development. In fact, maternal effects are thought to adjust offspring phenotype to the environmental conditions they will experience after birth, which are in turn strongly dependent on the levels of parental provisioning. Using cross-fostering experiments in canaries, we tested the role of maternal effects on parent-offspring coadaptation from two different approaches. First, we analyzed whether females deposit yolk testosterone in relation to their own or their partner's prospective parental provisioning, measured as the rate of parental feeding to foster nestlings. Second, we investigated whether females deposit yolk testosterone in relation to costs they incurred when raising a previous brood, as this likely impinges on their capacity to provide parental care in the near future. However, from the results of both experiments we have no evidence that canary females deposit yolk testosterone in order to match offspring begging to the levels of care they and/or their partners provide. We therefore found no evidence that yolk testosterone facilitates parent-offspring coadaptation. In addition, our results suggest that the functional consequences of yolk testosterone deposition may relate to hatching asynchrony since it primarily varied with egg laying order.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Estramil
- Department of Biology-Ethology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
| | - Ton G G Groothuis
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Marcel Eens
- Department of Biology-Ethology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
| | - Bonnie de Vries
- Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Wendt Müller
- Department of Biology-Ethology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
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43
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Lawson DW, Borgerhoff Mulder M. The offspring quantity-quality trade-off and human fertility variation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150145. [PMID: 27022072 PMCID: PMC4822425 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The idea that trade-offs between offspring quantity and quality shape reproductive behaviour has long been central to economic perspectives on fertility. It also has a parallel and richer theoretical foundation in evolutionary ecology. We review the application of the quantity–quality trade-off concept to human reproduction, emphasizing distinctions between clutch size and lifetime fertility, and the wider set of forces contributing to fertility variation in iteroparous and sexually reproducing species like our own. We then argue that in settings approximating human evolutionary history, several factors limit costly sibling competition. Consequently, while the optimization of quantity–quality trade-offs undoubtedly shaped the evolution of human physiology setting the upper limits of reproduction, we argue it plays a modest role in accounting for socio-ecological and individual variation in fertility. Only upon entering the demographic transition can fertility limitation be clearly interpreted as strategically orientated to advancing offspring quality via increased parental investment per child, with low fertility increasing descendant socio-economic success, although not reproductive success. We conclude that existing economic and evolutionary literature has often overemphasized the centrality of quantity–quality trade-offs to human fertility variation and advocate for the development of more holistic frameworks encompassing alternative life-history trade-offs and the evolved mechanisms guiding their resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W Lawson
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
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44
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Costanzo A, Parolini M, Bazzi G, Khoriauli L, Santagostino M, Possenti CD, Romano A, Nergadze SG, Rubolini D, Giulotto E, Saino N. Brood size, telomere length, and parent-offspring color signaling in barn swallows. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
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45
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Catry T, Moreira F, Alcazar R, Rocha PA, Catry I. Mechanisms and fitness consequences of laying decisions in a migratory raptor. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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46
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Saravia‐Pietropaolo MJ, Manzoli DE, Antoniazzi LR, Quiroga MA, Beldomenico PM. Effect of natural brood size variability on growth and survival of thornbird nestlings. J Zool (1987) 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- M. J. Saravia‐Pietropaolo
- Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral Universidad Nacional del Litoral – Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (UNL – CONICET) Esperanza Santa Fe Argentina
| | - D. E. Manzoli
- Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral Universidad Nacional del Litoral – Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (UNL – CONICET) Esperanza Santa Fe Argentina
| | - L. R. Antoniazzi
- Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral Universidad Nacional del Litoral – Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (UNL – CONICET) Esperanza Santa Fe Argentina
| | - M. A. Quiroga
- Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral Universidad Nacional del Litoral – Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (UNL – CONICET) Esperanza Santa Fe Argentina
| | - P. M. Beldomenico
- Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral Universidad Nacional del Litoral – Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (UNL – CONICET) Esperanza Santa Fe Argentina
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47
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Reed TE, Gienapp P, Visser ME. Testing for biases in selection on avian reproductive traits and partitioning direct and indirect selection using quantitative genetic models. Evolution 2016; 70:2211-2225. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.13017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2015] [Accepted: 07/24/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas E. Reed
- School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences; University College Cork; Cork Ireland
| | - Phillip Gienapp
- Department of Animal Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Marcel E. Visser
- Department of Animal Ecology; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW); 6700 AB Wageningen The Netherlands
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48
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Balasubramaniam P, Rotenberry JT. Elevation and latitude interact to drive life-history variation in precocial birds: a comparative analysis using galliformes. J Anim Ecol 2016; 85:1528-1539. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2016] [Accepted: 06/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - John T. Rotenberry
- Department of Biology; University of California; Riverside CA 92521 USA
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior; University of Minnesota; 1987 Upper Buford Circle Saint Paul MN 55108 USA
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49
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Tanaka KD, Morimoto G, Ueda K. Equivocal Responses of Feeding Parents to Experimental Brood Sizes in a Hawk-Cuckoo Host: Brood Size as a Reference for Parental Provisioning Decisions? Ethology 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Gen Morimoto
- Department of Life-Sciences; Rikkyo University; Tokyo Japan
- Yamashina Institute for Ornithology; Chiba Japan
| | - Keisuke Ueda
- Department of Life-Sciences; Rikkyo University; Tokyo Japan
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50
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Fokkema RW, Ubels R, Tinbergen JM. Great tits trade off future competitive advantage for current reproduction. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
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