Carry-over effects of brood size on morphology, reproduction, and lifespan in barn swallows

Saino, Nicola; Ambrosini, Roberto; Rubolini, Diego; Romano, Maria; Caprioli, Manuela; Romanò, Andrea; Parolini, Marco

doi:10.1007/s00265-018-2446-1

Cited by 22 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Assuming parents are maximizing provisioning rate of food items to their offspring, given the availability of prey, this may provide evidence that adults are having to spend more time foraging within these types of landscapes (Charnov 1976, Pyke et al 1977, Orians and Pearson 1979). If sustained, this increased foraging effort could come at a cost to parents and lead to carry-over effects eventually impacting their future fitness (Saino et al 1999, 2018, Harrison et al 2011, Stanton et al 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence suggests food availability and agricultural landscapes can be influential to both nestling growth and condition, and yet has only recently received more attention as a possible driver of aerial insectivore declines (Smith and Bruun 1998, Granbom and Smith 2006, Pigeon et al 2013, Almasi et al 2015, Kusack et al 2020, Houle et al 2020). Therefore we assess the possibility that links between agricultural intensification and declining populations of aerial insectivores are not only through a reduction in the number of fledglings, but also through reduced offspring condition, as this may carry over and affect future recruitment and productivity (Stutchbury et al 2011, Naef-Daenzer and Grüebler 2016, Saino et al 2018, Evans et al 2020, Jones and Ward 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Combined influence of food availability and agricultural intensification on a declining aerial insectivore

Garrett

Pelletier

Garant

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Aerial insectivores show worldwide population declines coinciding with shifts in agricultural practices. Increasing reliance on certain agricultural practices, is thought to have led to an overall reduction in insect abundance that negatively effects aerial insectivore fitness. The relationship between prey availability and the fitness of insectivores may thus vary with the extent of agricultural production. It is therefore imperative to quantify the strength and direction of these associations. Here we used data from an 11-year study monitoring the breeding of Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) and the availability of Diptera (their main prey) across a gradient of agricultural intensification in southern Qu&eacutebec, Canada. More specifically, we evaluated the landscape characteristics affecting prey availability, and how this relationship influences the fledging success, the duration of the nestling period, the fledgling body mass and wing length as these variables are known to influence the population dynamics of this species. Diptera availability was greatest within predominately forested landscapes, yet within principally agricultural landscapes, it was greatest within ones dominated by intensive row crops (corn, soybean and wheat), and, counter to our predictions, lowest within those dominated by forage and pasture fields. Of the measured fitness proxies, only fledging success was positively related to prey availability. The impact of prey availability varied across the agricultural gradient as fledging success improved with increasing prey levels within forage landscapes yet declined in more agro-intensive landscapes. Finally, once conditioning on prey availability, fledging success was lowest, nestling periods were the longest, and wing length of fledglings were shortest within more agro-intensive landscapes. Our results highlight the interacting roles that aerial insect availability and agricultural intensification have on the fitness of aerial insectivores, and by extension how food availability may interact with other aspects of breeding habitats to influence the population dynamics of predators.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combined influence of food availability and agricultural intensification on a declining aerial insectivore

Garrett

Pelletier

Garant

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…The early developmental period is a sensitive life stage, and early-life conditions can have strong effects on fitness ( Briga et al, 2017 ; Reid et al, 2003 ; Saino et al, 2018 ; Van De Pol et al, 2006 ). Presumably, such effects are mediated through long-term phenotypic effects of early-life conditions, shaping subsequent behavior, physiology and morphology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, manipulation of natal brood size, which typically affects growth, has long-term phenotypic effects on physiology (e.g. Briga et al, 2016 ; Jimeno et al, 2019 ; Naguib et al, 2004 ; Saino et al, 2018 ; Tschirren et al, 2009 ; Verhulst et al, 2006 ), sexual ornamentation ( Gustafsson et al, 1995 ) and telomere length ( Boonekamp et al, 2014 ). In captive zebra finches, growing up in large broods has been shown to cause a shortening of adult lifespan ( Briga et al, 2017 ; De Kogel, 1997 ), but the mechanisms causing this effect remain to be elucidated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of early-life conditions on innate immune function in adult zebra finches

Driessen

Versteegh

Gerritsma

et al. 2021

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Early life conditions can impact individuals for life, with harsh developmental conditions resulting in lower fitness, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We hypothesised that immune function may be part of the underlying mechanism, when harsh developmental conditions result in less effective immune function. We tested this hypothesis by comparing innate immune function between zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) in adulthood (n=230; age 108 – 749 days) that were reared in either small or large broods. We used this experimental background to follow up our earlier finding that finches reared in large broods have a shorter lifespan. To render a broad overview of innate immune function, we used an array of six measures: bacterial killing capacity, haemagglutination, haemolysis, haptoglobin, nitric oxide, and ovotransferrin. We found no convincing evidence for effects of natal brood size on any of the six measures of innate immune function. This raised the question whether the origin of variation in immune function was genetic, and we therefore estimated heritabilities using animal models. However, we found heritability estimates to be low (range 0.04 – 0.11) for all measured immune variables, suggesting variation in innate immune function can largely be attributed to environmental effects independent of early-life conditions as modified by natal brood size.

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“…In many organisms, early postnatal stages are highly critical to survival and subsequent performance, with priming effects that can be expressed later in life (Lindstrom 1999; Metcalfe and Monaghan 2001, 2003; Saino et al. 2018 and references therein).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perinatal variation and covariation of oxidative status and telomere length in yellow-legged gull chicks

et al. 2018

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The perinatal period is critical to survival and performance of many organisms. In birds, rapid postnatal growth and sudden exposure to aerial oxygen around hatching markedly affect the chick redox status, with potentially negative consequences on physiology mediated by oxidative stress. In addition, telomere length (TL) undergoes reduction during birds’ early life, partly depending on oxidative status. However, relatively few studies have focused specifically on the changes in oxidative status and TL that occur immediately after hatching. In this study of the yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis, we found that chicks undergo a marked increase in plasma total antioxidant capacity and a marked decrease in the concentration of pro-oxidant molecules during the first days after hatching. In addition, TL in erythrocytes decreased by 1 standard deviation over the 4 days post-hatching. Body mass and tarsus length covaried with total antioxidant capacity and concentration of pro-oxidants in a complex way, that partly depended on sex and laying order, suggesting that oxidative status can affect growth. Moreover, TL positively covaried with the concentration of pro-oxidant molecules, possibly because retention of high concentrations of pro-oxidant molecules results from mechanisms of prevention of their negative effects, including reduction in TL. Thus, this study shows that chicks undergo marked variation in oxidative status, which predicts growth and subsequent TL, prompting for more studies of the perinatal changes in the critical post-hatching stages.

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Carry-over effects of brood size on morphology, reproduction, and lifespan in barn swallows

Cited by 22 publications

References 68 publications

Combined influence of food availability and agricultural intensification on a declining aerial insectivore

Combined influence of food availability and agricultural intensification on a declining aerial insectivore

Effects of early-life conditions on innate immune function in adult zebra finches

Perinatal variation and covariation of oxidative status and telomere length in yellow-legged gull chicks

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