Sex-specific growth rates in zebra finch nestlings: a possible mechanism for sex ratio adjustment

Martins, Thais L. F.

doi:10.1093/beheco/arg094

Cited by 96 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Interestingly, effects on size were strongly sex biased, with females doing worse than males when their mothers were reared in large experimental broods. The findings are consistent with previous evidence that female nestlings are more vulnerable to nutritional stress (Bradbury & Blakey 1998;Kilner 1998;Martins 2004;Rutstein et al 2004) and show that such effects can even last into the next generation (also see Gorman & Nager 2004). Since females raised in enlarged broods produce eggs with lower testosterone levels , it may be that our present findings were mediated through this mechanism, together with a possibly differential effect of yolk androgen in male and female embryos (Gil 2003).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…However, in contrast to mammals (Huck et al 1987) and insects (Fox & Mousseau 1998), in birds the extent to which these effects of developmental stress on offspring are projected into future generations is still not known. Given that effects of nutritional stress have been shown to be sex specific, with females being affected more than males (Kilner 1998;Martins 2004), we were also interested in determining whether these sex-specific effects would project into the next generation. Here we report a two-step breeding experiment in which we followed effects of brood size manipulation over two generations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transgenerational body size effects caused by early developmental stress in zebra finches

Naguib

Gil

2005

Biol. Lett.

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The nutritional and social conditions that individuals experience during early development can have profound effects on their morphology, physiology, behaviour and life history. Experimental increases in brood size in birds can result in reduced offspring condition and survival, indicating that developmental deficits in enlarged broods have negative fitness consequences within the affected generation. To study long-term effects (i.e. transgenerational effects of developmental stress), we conducted a two-step breeding experiment in which we manipulated early developmental conditions in zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata. We raised zebra finches by manipulating brood sizes and controlled for maternal and genetic effects by cross-fostering. In a previous study, we showed that offspring condition and body size decreased with increasing brood size. Here we show that this effect was carried over to the next generation. Body size in nestlings and at nutritional independence was affected by the brood size in which the mothers were raised. Female offspring did significantly worse than male offspring when the mother had been raised in large broods, suggesting a sex-specific influence of maternal effects. These findings link early developmental stress in females with the phenotype of the next generation via maternal effects.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transgenerational body size effects caused by early developmental stress in zebra finches

Naguib

Gil

2005

Biol. Lett.

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“…The heterogametic sex (XY males in mammals; ZW females in birds) is thought to always be at a disadvantage, because they are susceptible to the expression of sex-linked deleterious recessive alleles. This hypothesis might explain why daughters in this study, and in the related and monomorphic zebra finch [34,35,50], are more vulnerable than sons to malnutrition during early development. Theoretically, heterogameity would predispose daughters to greater mortality and reduced performance during development [1,2].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Mothers adjust offspring sex to match the quality of the rearing environment

Pryke

Rollins

2012

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Theory predicts that mothers should adjust offspring sex ratios when the expected fitness gains or rearing costs differ between sons and daughters. Recent empirical work has linked biased offspring sex ratios to environmental quality via changes in relative maternal condition. It is unclear, however, whether females can manipulate offspring sex ratios in response to environmental quality alone (i.e. independent of maternal condition). We used a balanced within-female experimental design (i.e. females bred on both low-and high-quality diets) to show that female parrot finches (Erythrura trichroa) manipulate primary offspring sex ratios to the quality of the rearing environment, and not to their own body condition and health. Individual females produced an unbiased sex ratio on high-quality diets, but over-produced sons in poor dietary conditions, even though they maintained similar condition between diet treatments. Despite the lack of sexual size dimorphism, such sex ratio adjustment is in line with predictions from sex allocation theory because nutritionally stressed foster sons were healthier, grew faster and were more likely to survive than daughters. These findings suggest that mothers may adaptively adjust offspring sex ratios to optimally match their offspring to the expected quality of the rearing environment.

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“…Furthermore, the great variation in the pattern of development in birds along the altricial-precocial spectrum means that hatching takes place at different stages of maturation, adding a further layer of complexity to the effects of the early developmental environment that has received little attention. A number of field and laboratory studies in birds suggest that one sex is more vulnerable to poor early environmental conditions than the other (Nager et al 1999;Martins 2004;Spencer & Verhulst 2007). We need also to consider therefore whether we get differing fitness outcomes for males and females.…”

Section: Review Growth Phenotype and Environment P Monaghan 1639mentioning

confidence: 99%

Early growth conditions, phenotypic development and environmental change

Monaghan

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

851

943

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Phenotypic development is the result of a complex interplay involving the organism's own genetic make-up and the environment it experiences during development. The latter encompasses not just the current environment, but also indirect, and sometimes lagged, components that result from environmental effects on its parents that are transmitted to their developing offspring in various ways and at various stages. These environmental effects can simply constrain development, for example, where poor maternal condition gives rise to poorly provisioned, low-quality offspring. However, it is also possible that environmental circumstances during development shape the offspring phenotype in such a way as to better prepare it for the environmental conditions it is most likely to encounter during its life. Studying the extent to which direct and indirect developmental responses to environmental effects are adaptive requires clear elucidation of hypotheses and careful experimental manipulations. In this paper, I outline how the different paradigms applied in this field relate to each other, the main predictions that they produce and the kinds of experimental data needed to distinguish among competing hypotheses. I focus on birds in particular, but the theories discussed are not taxon specific. Environmental influences on phenotypic development are likely to be mediated, in part at least, by endocrine systems. I examine evidence from mechanistic and functional avian studies and highlight the general areas where we lack key information.

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Sex-specific growth rates in zebra finch nestlings: a possible mechanism for sex ratio adjustment

Cited by 96 publications

References 42 publications

Transgenerational body size effects caused by early developmental stress in zebra finches

Transgenerational body size effects caused by early developmental stress in zebra finches

Mothers adjust offspring sex to match the quality of the rearing environment

Early growth conditions, phenotypic development and environmental change

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