Personality and plasticity in neophobia levels vary with anthropogenic disturbance but not toxic metal exposure in urban great tits

Grunst, Andrea S.; Grunst, Melissa L.; Pinxten, Rianne; Eens, Marcel

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.383

Cited by 36 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Cort administration alters neophobic responses in both short‐ and long‐term contexts (Bebus, Small, Jones, Elderbrock, & Schoech, 2016; biomedical literature reviewed in Korte, 2001). Other long‐term stimuli can also affect neophobia such as repeated stressors (Gormally et al., 2018) and habitat alteration and urbanization (Grunst, Grunst, Pinxten, & Eens, 2019). Consequently, neophobia appears to have a response latency of days‐to‐weeks, and stressor duration of months‐to‐years (Figure 1; Table S1).…”

Section: Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

What are you actually measuring? A review of techniques that integrate the stress response on distinct time‐scales

Gormally

Romero

2020

Functional Ecology

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1. The field of stress physiology has rapidly expanded, particularly in those fields interested in identifying chronic stress in wild animals. Despite this expansion, stress remains difficult to assess and understand, due in large part to the temporal complexities of common stress measurement techniques. 2. While the stress response happens on a short timescale , chronic stress results over longer timescales. Therefore, the temporal dynamics of techniques used to assess 'stress' need to be fully understood in order to be applied correctly. 3. In this review, we provide information on 37 physiological and behavioural metrics that are commonly used to measure stress, especially in wild free-living vertebrates, with a particular focus on which timescale they integrate stress. 4. We organize these metrics into seven broad categories based on which physiological system they are most closely associated with (glucocorticoids, sympathetic/ parasympathetic nervous system, immune, metabolic, cellular/molecular, tissue development and behaviour). 5. We conclude by summarizing which kind of biological questions and variation each technique is most suitable for. 6. This review will enable researchers to understand the temporal dynamics of stress measurement techniques for better design of future studies.

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Section: Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

What are you actually measuring? A review of techniques that integrate the stress response on distinct time‐scales

Gormally

Romero

2020

Functional Ecology

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“…The Umicore facility is a major point source for metals, especially Pb and Cd, but also including As and copper (Cu). Metal deposition is high near the smelter, sometimes exceeding emission limits set by Flemish and European authorities, and exponentially decreases with distance [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]44 . Thus, the study populations are exposed to different levels of metal pollution, but variation in metal exposure also occurs on the individual level, within study sites 43 .…”

Section: Study Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Important Personality Trait Varies with Blood and Plumage Metal Concentrations in a Free-Living Songbird

Grunst

Daem

et al. 2019

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Metal pollution is a global problem, which threatens to seriously disrupt behavioral patterns and health in humans and wildlife. Nonetheless, little is known regarding how exposure to metal pollution affects animal personalities, as defined by repeatable among-individual differences in behavior. We used a large dataset to investigate the relationship between individual blood and feather metal concentrations and three personality traits (exploration behavior, territorial aggressiveness, and aggressiveness during nest defense) in great tits (Parus major), a model species for animal personality research. We previously demonstrated slower exploration behavior at highly polluted study sites, where exposure to lead, cadmium and arsenic is high. Here, we demonstrate the across-year repeatability of exploration behavior and aggressiveness

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“…GO terms were heavily populated by behavior, brain and auditory functions, e.g ., observed learning, imitative learning, vocal learning. Urban areas are associated with explorative individuals that exhibit less neophobic responses (Grunst et al 2019). Stress-reactivity has been shown to be related to explorative behavior and recently has been shown to be related to differentially methylated regions across the genome (Baugh et al 2012; Taff et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reorganization of molecular networks associated with DNA methylation and changes in the rearing environments of the house wren (Troglodytes aedon)

Kartzinel

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Environmental change, such as increased rates of urbanization, can induce shifts in phenotypic plasticity with some individuals adapting to city life while others are displaced. A key trait that can facilitate adaptation is the degree at which animals respond to stress. This stress response has a heritable component and exhibits intra- and inter-individual variation. However, the mechanisms behind this variability and whether they might be responsible for adaptation to different environments are not known. Variation in DNA methylation can be a potential mechanism that mediates environmental effects on the stress response. We used an inter- and intra-environmental cross-foster experiment to analyze the contribution of DNA methylation to early-life phenotypic variation. We found that at hatching, urban house wren (Troglodytes aedon) offspring had increased methylation as compared to their rural counterparts, and observed plasticity in methylation as offspring aged, indicating developmental effects of the rearing environment on methylation. Differential methylation analyses showed that cellular respiration genes were differentially expressed at hatching and behavioral and metabolism genes were differentially expressed at fledgling. Lastly, hyper-methylation of a single gene (CNTNAP2) is associated with increased glucocorticoid levels. These differential methylation patterns linked to a specific physiological phenotype suggest that DNA methylation may be a mechanism by which individuals adapt to novel environments. Characterizing genetic and environmental influences on methylation is critical for understanding the role of epigenetic mechanisms in evolutionary adaptation.

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Personality and plasticity in neophobia levels vary with anthropogenic disturbance but not toxic metal exposure in urban great tits

Cited by 36 publications

References 91 publications

What are you actually measuring? A review of techniques that integrate the stress response on distinct time‐scales

What are you actually measuring? A review of techniques that integrate the stress response on distinct time‐scales

An Important Personality Trait Varies with Blood and Plumage Metal Concentrations in a Free-Living Songbird

Reorganization of molecular networks associated with DNA methylation and changes in the rearing environments of the house wren (Troglodytes aedon)

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