Individual variation in plasma testosterone levels and its relation to badge size in House Sparrows Passer domesticus: It’s a night-and-day difference

Laucht, Silke; Dale, James; Mutzel, Ariane; Kempenaers, Bart

doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2010.11.007

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In accordance with this explanation, Laucht et al . () showed that testosterone levels varied greatly within‐individual male house sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) between the day and night time (see also Ouyang, Hau & Bonier for seasonal variation). Importantly, the authors also found that individuals differed in their amount of within‐individual variation (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic rates, and not hormone levels, are a likely mediator of between‐individual differences in behaviour: a meta‐analysis

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary Consistent individual differences in hormone levels and metabolic rates have been proposed to be potential state variables underlying consistent individual differences in behaviour (i.e. animal personality). However, it remains unclear whether either one alone or both of these potential state variables could be an underlying driver of animal personality. We address this question using meta‐analyses of published data from bird species. We hypothesized that state variables that mediate individual differences in behaviour would display similar or higher repeatability estimates than behavioural traits. To test this hypothesis, we quantified repeatability estimates of hormone levels, metabolic rates and behavioural traits. We found moderate to high mean repeatability estimates for both metabolic rates and behavioural traits, but low repeatability estimates for hormone levels. These findings indicate that metabolic rates likely represent an important mechanism for generating adaptive personality differences in behaviour. We also show that: (i) for hormones and behaviour, repeatability decreased with increasing interval time between two measurements; (ii) males and females differed in repeatability for behavioural traits; (iii) stress‐induced hormone levels were more repeatable than baseline levels. Future studies are now required to determine the direction of the association between metabolic rates and behavioural traits. At the same time, these studies should try to investigate which of the proposed mechanisms is responsible for the relationship between state variable and state‐dependent behaviour. In addition, we encourage researchers to report the coefficient of variation for between‐individual variance (CVB) along with repeatability estimates because these two indices carry different information. We discuss how CVB may better facilitate future comparative studies, including meta‐analyses. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12779/suppinfo is available for this article.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabolic rates, and not hormone levels, are a likely mediator of between‐individual differences in behaviour: a meta‐analysis

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Thereafter, circulating levels drop to pre‐breeding levels, around 1000 pg/mL (1.00 ng/mL), until the next breeding attempt (Hegner & Wingfield, ; Wingfield et al., ). Captive house sparrows, tend to have decreased circulating testosterone levels during the breeding season, typically ranging from ∼100‐700 pg/mL (0.1 – 0.7 ng/ml) (Buchanan, Evans, & Goldsmith, ; Greenman, Martin, & M, ; Laucht, Dale, Mutzel, & Kempenaers, ). While we are not certain of why our males had levels lower than those observed in other wild and captive male house sparrow studies, differences in hormone extraction and assay methods (EIA versus RIA) may be one cause.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeated immune challenges affect testosterone but not sperm quality

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mounting an immunological response is energetically demanding and necessarily redirects allocation of resources toward immune system activation and away from other energetically expensive processes, such as reproduction. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major component of the outer membrane of the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, mimics a bacterial infection without producing the cost of replicating the pathogen and is one of the most commonly used agents to induce an acute phase immune response. Here, we ask if a trade-off can be induced between activation of the acute phase immune response and sperm function, a key indicator of sperm competitive ability. Further, we ask whether repeated exposure to this endotoxin in a social species such as the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), where repeated pathogen exposure may be common, may have a more pronounced effect. To address our questions, we exposed individuals to two rounds of LPS treatment or control, to mimic a repeated pathogen exposure in the wild. We predicted that repeated pathogen exposure would have detrimental effects on sperm quality, and therefore, reproductive success. We compared a measure of sperm quality (straight-line velocity) in captive male house sparrows between LPS-treated and control individuals. We found that although LPS treatment impaired circulating testosterone and induced a hypothermic state when compared with controls, it did not affect sperm quality within days or weeks following a single or repeated LPS exposure.

show abstract

“…Male mammals and birds demonstrate strong diel variation in plasma testosterone levels (El Omari et al, 1989; Laucht et al, 2011). The primary androgen in fish, 11-KT, is known to influence reproductive behavior (Borg, 1994; Kindler et al, 1989; Matsumoto et al, 2012) and is highly induced in male stickleback during the reproductive season (Mayer et al, 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perchlorate exposure does not modulate temporal variation of whole-body thyroid and androgen hormone content in threespine stickleback

Gardell

Dillon

Smayda

et al. 2015

General and Comparative Endocrinology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previously we showed that exposure of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to the endocrine disruptor perchlorate results in pronounced structural changes in thyroid and gonad, while surprisingly, whole-body thyroid hormone concentrations remain unaffected. To test for hormone titer variations on a finer scale, we evaluated the interactive effects of time (diel and reproductive season) and perchlorate exposure on whole-body contents of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT) in captive stickleback. Adult stickleback were exposed to 100 ppm perchlorate or control water and sampled at four-hour intervals across the 24-hour day and at one time-point (1100 h) weekly across the reproductive season (May-July). Neither whole-body T3 nor T4 concentration significantly differed across the day in control or perchlorate treated stickleback. Across the reproductive season, whole-body T3 concentration remained stable while T4 significantly increased. However, neither hormone concentration was significantly affected by perchlorate, verifying our previous studies. The concentration of whole-body 11-KT, a major fish androgen, displayed significant diel variation and also steadily declined across the reproductive season in untreated males; perchlorate exposure did not influence the concentration of 11-KT in either diel or reproductive season schedules. Diel and reproductive season variations in 11-KT content in male stickleback are likely related to reproductive physiology and behavior. The observed increase in T4 content across the reproductive season may be reflective of increased energy investment in reproduction near the end of the life cycle.

show abstract

Individual variation in plasma testosterone levels and its relation to badge size in House Sparrows Passer domesticus: It’s a night-and-day difference

Cited by 29 publications

References 63 publications

Metabolic rates, and not hormone levels, are a likely mediator of between‐individual differences in behaviour: a meta‐analysis

Metabolic rates, and not hormone levels, are a likely mediator of between‐individual differences in behaviour: a meta‐analysis

Repeated immune challenges affect testosterone but not sperm quality

Perchlorate exposure does not modulate temporal variation of whole-body thyroid and androgen hormone content in threespine stickleback

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About