Exogenous corticosterone and nest abandonment: A study in a long-lived bird, the Adélie penguin

Spée, Marion; Marchal, Lorène; Lazin, David; Maho, Yvon Le; Chastel, Olivier; Beaulieu, Michaël; Raclot, Thierry

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2011.07.003

Cited by 57 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Although we cannot exclude that administration of exogenous corticosterone attenuated the endogenous corticosterone release in response to stress (Akana et al 1992;Rich and Romero 2005;Busch et al 2008), a high dose of exogenous corticosterone could replace endogenous corticosterone production (Fusani 2008). Pellet doses used in our study (scaled to the body mass of Little Auks) corresponded to doses, which successfully increased levels of circulating corticosterone in birds in other experimental studies Bourgeon and Raclot 2006;Müller et al 2009a, b;Spée et al 2011). Continuous monitoring of corticosterone levels in experimental birds throughout the whole study period would strengthen our conclusions (Fusani 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…Previous studies have shown that exogenous corticosterone administration effectively increases the corticosterone level in birds (Kitaysky et al 2001;Romero et al 2005;Bourgeon and Raclot 2006;Angelier et al 2009;Müller et al 2009a, b;Spée et al 2011). For example, Spée et al (2011) observed a 3.3-fold increase in circulating corticosterone levels within 3 days of pellet implantation. We chose chicks with a similar body mass for the study, because corticosterone levels vary between individuals with respect to their body mass (Kidawa et al 2014).…”

Section: Experiments With Chicksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Little Auks, a higher corticosterone level might also be associated with food deprivation or unfavourable weather conditions (Kidawa et al 2014). Therefore, corticosterone could be used as an established hormonal indicator of an organism's response to stress, but also as an independent experimental factor that simulates the stress reaction (Kitaysky et al 2001;Romero et al 2005;Müller et al 2009a;Shini et al 2009;Spée et al 2011). Experimental manipulations appear to be the best way to predict birds' reactions during unfavourable environmental conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

2016

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Long-lived seabirds are good models to study the mechanisms that mediate the parent-offspring interactions. Contrary to studies under natural conditions, experimental manipulations allow us to assess the birds' reactions in a short time period. We used the stress hormone corticosterone as an independent experimental factor to simulate the stress reaction, to examine changes in the behaviour of Little Auk chicks and parent birds. In the first experiment, we hypothesised that after enhancement of the corticosterone level Little Auk (Alle alle) chicks intensify their begging performance and attain a higher pre-fledging body mass than the control chicks. In the second experiment, we hypothesized that parent Little Auks with an increased corticosterone level feed their chicks less frequently and spend less time at the colony than their untreated partners and the control birds. We also expected that chicks with one parent implanted with corticosterone fledge later and with a lower body mass than chicks of two untreated parents. The obtained results supported the above hypotheses. We demonstrated that modification of begging performance in Little Auks constitutes an adaptive mechanism that guards against the decrease in the chicks' body condition during stressful periods. Even though the provisioning rate in Little Auks can be regulated according to the chick's needs (expressed by the intensity of the begging display), it appears that adult birds regulate their provisioning strategy primarily according to their body state. The results suggest that parent Little Auks under stressful conditions will decrease their parental effort and redirect the available energy towards self-maintenance. The study provides novel insights into the behaviour of long-lived alcids using an experimental approach on free-living birds.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Experiments With Chicksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

2016

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“…In addition to correlational evidence, there was causal evidence suggesting that slight increases in GCs elevate parental care. An exception to the overall trend occurs in the probability to abandon nests containing offspring in birds, which appears to be increased by even slight increases in GCs within the baseline range (Silverin, 1986; Groscolas & Robin, 2001; Love, Breuner, Vezina, & Williams, 2004; Groscolas, Lacroix, & Robin, 2008; Spée et al., 2010, 2011; Ouyang et al., 2012; Strasser & Heath, 2013; but see Criscuolo et al., 2005), perhaps because chronic elevations in baseline GCs might trigger individuals to switch to an emergency life‐history stage (Wingfield et al., 1998). …”

Section: Evidence That Variation In Stress Physiology Is Associated Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between glucocorticoids and sociality across a continuum of vertebrate social behavior

Raulo

Dantzer

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The causes and consequences of individual differences in animal behavior and stress physiology are increasingly studied in wild animals, yet the possibility that stress physiology underlies individual variation in social behavior has received less attention. In this review, we bring together these study areas and focus on understanding how the activity of the vertebrate neuroendocrine stress axis (HPA‐axis) may underlie individual differences in social behavior in wild animals. We first describe a continuum of vertebrate social behaviors spanning from initial social tendencies (proactive behavior) to social behavior occurring in reproductive contexts (parental care, sexual pair‐bonding) and lastly to social behavior occurring in nonreproductive contexts (nonsexual bonding, group‐level cooperation). We then perform a qualitative review of existing literature to address the correlative and causal association between measures of HPA‐axis activity (glucocorticoid levels or GCs) and each of these types of social behavior. As expected, elevated HPA‐axis activity can inhibit social behavior associated with initial social tendencies (approaching conspecifics) and reproduction. However, elevated HPA‐axis activity may also enhance more elaborate social behavior outside of reproductive contexts, such as alloparental care behavior. In addition, the effect of GCs on social behavior can depend upon the sociality of the stressor (cause of increase in GCs) and the severity of stress (extent of increase in GCs). Our review shows that the while the associations between stress responses and sociality are diverse, the role of HPA‐axis activity behind social behavior may shift toward more facilitating and less inhibiting in more social species, providing insight into how stress physiology and social systems may co‐evolve.

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“…Recently, experimental studies using CORT administration have attempted to understand the complex relationships between baseline CORT levels, foraging and fitness in wild seabirds (Angelier et al 2007, Cottin et al 2011, Spée et al 2011a, Crossin et al 2012. It is expected that increasing CORT levels during the breeding period should allow seabirds to cope with any additional energy requirements im posed by repro duction (Romero 2002), especially through an increase in the effort devoted to foraging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corticosterone administration leads to a transient alteration of foraging behaviour and complexity in a diving seabird

Cottin¹,

MacIntosh²,

Kato³

et al. 2014

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Hormones link environmental stimuli to the behavioural and/or physiological responses of organisms. The release of corticosterone has major effects on both energy mobilization and its allocation among the various requirements of an individual, especially regarding survival and reproduction. We therefore examined the effects of experimentally elevated baseline corticosterone levels on the foraging behaviour of Adélie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae during chickrearing. We monitored the at-sea behaviour of corticosterone-implanted and control male birds using time-depth recorders, and monitored the effects of corticosterone treatment on their body conditions as well as their chicks' body masses and survival. Bio-logged data were examined via traditional measures of diving behaviour as well as fractal analysis as an index of behavioural complexity. Corticosterone administration caused a transient decrease in both overall foraging effort (i.e. reductions in the duration of at-sea trips, the time spent diving and the number of dives performed) and foraging complexity. In contrast, per-dive performance indices suggested an increase in both efficiency and prey pursuit rates. Ultimately, however, we observed no short-term effects of treatment on adult body condition and chick body mass and survival. We conclude that under higher corticosterone levels, sequences of behaviour may become more structured and periodic, as observed in treated birds. The increased energy allocation to dive-scale behaviours observed in treated birds might then reflect an adjustment to intrinsic constraints allowing reductions in energy expenditure at the trip-scale. This study highlights the utility of using both traditional and fractal analyses to better understand scale-dependent responses of animals to energetic and various other environmental challenges.

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Exogenous corticosterone and nest abandonment: A study in a long-lived bird, the Adélie penguin

Cited by 57 publications

References 47 publications

Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

Parent-offspring interactions in a long-lived seabird, the Little Auk (Alle alle): begging and provisioning under simulated stress

Associations between glucocorticoids and sociality across a continuum of vertebrate social behavior

Corticosterone administration leads to a transient alteration of foraging behaviour and complexity in a diving seabird

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