A transient reduction in circulating corticosterone reduces object neophobia in male house sparrows

Kelly, Tosha R.; Lynch, Kenedi I.; Couvillion, Kaitlin E.; Gallagher, Jaimie N.; Stansberry, Keegan R.; Kimball, Melanie G.; Lattin, Christine R.

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.105094

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Even studies that isolate just the glucocorticoid arm of the stress response show conflicting data regarding its effects on behavior. A faster approach (less neophobia) can be induced by both a decrease (Kelly et al, 2022) or an increase (Spencer & Verhulst, 2007) in corticosterone. Similarly, increasing corticosterone can also decrease exploration (indicating more neophobia; Skórzewska et al, 2006) or have no effect (de Bruijn & Romero, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other words, if a bird had not approached the food dish by 15 min, we would have had to assign a ceiling value of 15 to run a linear mixed model. Using a survival analysis, we were able to "censor" the datapoints in which a bird did not approach the food (Kelly et al, 2020(Kelly et al, , 2022. Each trial was assigned a "status" in addition to the time to approach-1 means the bird successfully approached the dish, 0 means the bird did not approach the dish.…”

Section: Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even studies that isolate just the glucocorticoid arm of the stress response show conflicting data regarding its effects on behavior. A faster approach (less neophobia) can be induced by both a decrease (Kelly et al, 2022) or an increase (Spencer & Verhulst, 2007) . This suggests that neophobic responses to chronic stress are highly sensitive to the context in which the chronic stress is applied.…”

Section: Neophobiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animals in the wild must balance the potential benefit of a new resource with the risk of predation or other adverse consequence (reviewed in Greenberg & Mettke‐Hofmann, 2001). Neophobia can be affected by both chronic (e.g., Beattie et al, 2022; de Bruijn & Romero, 2021; Gormally & Romero, 2018; Gormally et al, 2018) and acute stress (e.g., de Bruijn & Romero 2019, 2021), as well as exogenous glucocorticoid manipulation (e.g., Kelly et al, 2022; Spencer & Verhulst, 2007), though the effects are not consistent. A decrease in neophobia (e.g., a faster approach to novel food) with chronic stress could indicate that an animal is more willing to take risks to obtain food (Crino et al, 2017; Martins et al, 2007), whereas an increase in neophobia (slower approach) could indicate a more anxious animal (Dickens et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neophobia, but not perch hopping, is sensitive to long‐term chronic stress intensity

Beattie,

Mikolajczak,

Fefferman

et al. 2023

J Exp Zool Pt A

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To further elucidate the role that wear‐and‐tear plays in the transition from acute to chronic stress, we manipulated the intensity and duration of applied chronic stress to determine if behavior would respond proportionately. We brought wild house sparrows into captivity and subjected them to high‐stress, medium‐stress, low‐stress, or captivity‐only. We varied the number of stressors per day and the duration of stress periods to vary wear‐and‐tear, and thus the potential to exhibit chronic stress symptoms. The behaviors we assessed were neophobia (the fear of the new; assessed via food approach latency) and perch hopping (activity). We predicted that our birds would show proportionate decreases in neophobia and activity throughout a long‐term chronic stress paradigm. Our results indicate that neophobia is sensitive to the intensity of chronic stress, however, the birds became more neophobic, which was the opposite of what we expected. Conversely, perch hopping did not differ across treatment groups and is thus not sensitive to the intensity of chronic stress. Together, these data show that different behavioral measurements are impacted differently by chronic stress.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even studies that isolate just the glucocorticoid arm of the stress response show conflicting data regarding its effects on behavior. A faster approach (less neophobia) can be induced by both a decrease (Kelly et al, 2022) or an increase (Spencer & Verhulst, 2007) . This suggests that neophobic responses to chronic stress are highly sensitive to the context in which the chronic stress is applied.…”

Section: Neophobiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Neophobia, but not perch hopping, is sensitive to long‐term chronic stress intensity

Beattie,

Mikolajczak,

Fefferman

et al. 2023

J Exp Zool Pt A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To measure the concentration of corticosterone in the collected samples, enzyme-linked immunoassay plates (Arbor Assays; K014-H1/H5) that had previously been successfully used for several avian species were utilized. 13,14 A total of 110 plasma samples were collected for the study, and each assay plate could hold 35 samples plus standards. Seven birds and their 5 respective samples were randomly selected using the random number generator function in Microsoft Excel to run on each plate, for a total of 4 plates.…”

Section: Corticosterone Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Handling and restraint induce a significant increase in plasma corticosterone in Hispaniolan Amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis)

Parks

Tully

Settle

et al. 2023

ajvr

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OBJECTIVE To measure baseline plasma corticosterone levels in Hispaniolan Amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis) and assess the effects of handling and restraint on corticosterone levels over 1 hour, reflective of what parrots might experience during veterinary care. ANIMALS 10 male and 12 female Hispaniolan Amazon parrots. PROCEDURES Each parrot was removed from its cage and wrapped in a towel for restraint similar to that performed in a clinical setting. An initial baseline blood sample was collected in < 3 minutes upon entrance into the parrot room, after which blood samples were taken every 15 minutes for 1 hour (a total of 5 blood samples). An enzyme-linked immunoassay was validated for Hispaniolan Amazon parrots and used to determine concentrations of plasma corticosterone. RESULTS On average, parrots showed a significant increase in corticosterone between baseline samples and all subsequent postrestraint time points (average baseline corticosterone ± SD: 0.51 ± 0.65 ng/mL). Females, on average, displayed significantly higher corticosterone levels than males after 30, 45, and 60 minutes of restraint (P = .016, P = .0099, and P = .015, respectively). Birds with feather-destructive behavior did not have significantly higher corticosterone levels than birds without the condition (P = .38). CLINICAL RELEVANCE Understanding the physiological stress response in companion psittacine birds during routine handling will allow clinicians to better evaluate how this may affect the patient’s condition and diagnostic test results. Assessing how corticosterone correlates to behavioral conditions such as feather-destructive behavior will provide clinicians with the potential to develop treatment options.

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Day Late, Dollar Short: Runts of Asynchronously Hatched Songbird Broods Have Reduced Survival, Body Size, and Persistent Energy Deficits

Stansberry,

Kelly,

Couvillion

et al. 2024

J Exp Zool Pt A

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Many songbirds begin active incubation after laying their penultimate egg, resulting in synchronous hatching of the clutch except for a last‐hatched individual (“runt”) that hatches with a size deficit and competitive disadvantage to siblings when begging for food. However, climate change may elevate temperatures and cause environmental incubation as eggs are laid, resulting in asynchronous hatching and larger size hierarchies among siblings. Although previous work demonstrated that asynchronous hatching reduces nestling growth and survival relative to synchrony, the physiological mechanisms underlying these effects are unclear. To test the effects of asynchronous hatching on runt growth, survival, physiology, and compensatory growth‐related tradeoffs, we manipulated incubation temperature in nest boxes of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to increase asynchronous hatching and collected nestling morphological measurements and blood samples to assess physiology and development. Independent of heating treatment, runts from asynchronously hatched nests had lower survival than runts from more synchronous nests. Surviving runts from asynchronous nests were smaller and had reduced stress‐induced corticosterone concentrations and reduced circulating glucose compared with runts from synchronous nests. Despite persistent size and energy deficits, runts from asynchronous nests did not have significant deficits in immunity or telomere length when compared with runts from synchronous nests, suggesting no trade‐off between investment in immune development or telomere maintenance with growth. Overall, these results suggest that increased asynchrony due to climate change could reduce clutch survival for altricial songbirds, especially for the smallest chicks in a clutch, and that the negative effects of asynchrony may be driven by persistent energetic deficits.

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A transient reduction in circulating corticosterone reduces object neophobia in male house sparrows

Cited by 10 publications

References 54 publications

Neophobia, but not perch hopping, is sensitive to long‐term chronic stress intensity

Neophobia, but not perch hopping, is sensitive to long‐term chronic stress intensity

Handling and restraint induce a significant increase in plasma corticosterone in Hispaniolan Amazon parrots (Amazona ventralis)

Day Late, Dollar Short: Runts of Asynchronously Hatched Songbird Broods Have Reduced Survival, Body Size, and Persistent Energy Deficits

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