Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective
Predation risk affects the costs and benefits of prey life-history decisions. Predation threat is often higher during reproduction, especially in conspicuous colonial breeders. Therefore, predation risk may increase the survival cost of breeding, and reduce parental investment. The impact of predati...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fevo.2021.637561 2024-02-11T10:04:31+01:00 Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective Mohring, Bertille Angelier, Frédéric Jaatinen, Kim Parenteau, Charline Öst, Markus Svenska Kulturfonden 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 9 ISSN 2296-701X Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561 2024-01-26T10:00:15Z Predation risk affects the costs and benefits of prey life-history decisions. Predation threat is often higher during reproduction, especially in conspicuous colonial breeders. Therefore, predation risk may increase the survival cost of breeding, and reduce parental investment. The impact of predation risk on avian parental investment decisions may be hormonally mediated by prolactin and corticosterone, making them ideal tools for studying the trade-offs involved. Prolactin is thought to promote parental care and commitment in birds. Corticosterone is involved in allostasis and may either mediate reduced parental investment (corticosterone-fitness hypothesis), or promote parental investment through a reallocation of resources (corticosterone-adaptation hypothesis). Here, we used these hormonal proxies of incubation commitment to examine the impact of predation risk on reproduction in common eiders ( Somateria mollissima ) breeding in the Baltic Sea. This eider population is subject to high but spatially and temporally variable predation pressure on adults (mainly by the white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla and introduced mammalian predators) and nests (by the adult predators and exclusive egg predators such as hooded crows Corvus cornix ). We investigated baseline hormonal levels and hatching success as a function of individual quality attributes (breeding experience, female and duckling body condition), reproductive investment (clutch weight), and predation risk. We expected individuals nesting in riskier environments (i.e., on islands where predation on adults or nests is higher, or in less concealed nests) to reduce their parental investment in incubation, reflected in lower baseline prolactin levels and either higher (corticosterone-fitness hypothesis) or lower (corticosterone-adaptation hypothesis) baseline corticosterone levels. Contrary to our predictions, prolactin levels showed a positive correlation with nest predation risk. The unexpected positive relationship could result from the selective ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Haliaeetus albicilla Somateria mollissima White-tailed eagle Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9 |
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topic |
Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Mohring, Bertille Angelier, Frédéric Jaatinen, Kim Parenteau, Charline Öst, Markus Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective |
topic_facet |
Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Predation risk affects the costs and benefits of prey life-history decisions. Predation threat is often higher during reproduction, especially in conspicuous colonial breeders. Therefore, predation risk may increase the survival cost of breeding, and reduce parental investment. The impact of predation risk on avian parental investment decisions may be hormonally mediated by prolactin and corticosterone, making them ideal tools for studying the trade-offs involved. Prolactin is thought to promote parental care and commitment in birds. Corticosterone is involved in allostasis and may either mediate reduced parental investment (corticosterone-fitness hypothesis), or promote parental investment through a reallocation of resources (corticosterone-adaptation hypothesis). Here, we used these hormonal proxies of incubation commitment to examine the impact of predation risk on reproduction in common eiders ( Somateria mollissima ) breeding in the Baltic Sea. This eider population is subject to high but spatially and temporally variable predation pressure on adults (mainly by the white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla and introduced mammalian predators) and nests (by the adult predators and exclusive egg predators such as hooded crows Corvus cornix ). We investigated baseline hormonal levels and hatching success as a function of individual quality attributes (breeding experience, female and duckling body condition), reproductive investment (clutch weight), and predation risk. We expected individuals nesting in riskier environments (i.e., on islands where predation on adults or nests is higher, or in less concealed nests) to reduce their parental investment in incubation, reflected in lower baseline prolactin levels and either higher (corticosterone-fitness hypothesis) or lower (corticosterone-adaptation hypothesis) baseline corticosterone levels. Contrary to our predictions, prolactin levels showed a positive correlation with nest predation risk. The unexpected positive relationship could result from the selective ... |
author2 |
Svenska Kulturfonden |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mohring, Bertille Angelier, Frédéric Jaatinen, Kim Parenteau, Charline Öst, Markus |
author_facet |
Mohring, Bertille Angelier, Frédéric Jaatinen, Kim Parenteau, Charline Öst, Markus |
author_sort |
Mohring, Bertille |
title |
Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective |
title_short |
Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective |
title_full |
Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective |
title_fullStr |
Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
Parental Investment Under Predation Threat in Incubating Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima): A Hormonal Perspective |
title_sort |
parental investment under predation threat in incubating common eiders (somateria mollissima): a hormonal perspective |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561/full |
genre |
Haliaeetus albicilla Somateria mollissima White-tailed eagle |
genre_facet |
Haliaeetus albicilla Somateria mollissima White-tailed eagle |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 9 ISSN 2296-701X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.637561 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
9 |
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1790601160918302720 |