When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels
Life-history theory predicts that, to optimize their fitness, individuals should increase their reproductive effort as their residual reproductive value decreases. Accordingly, several studies have shown that individuals downregulate their glucocorticoid stress response (a proxy of reproductive inve...
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2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 2024-09-15T18:35:57+00:00 When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels Angelier, Frédéric Chastel, Olivier Lendvai, Adam Z. Parenteau, Charline Weimerskirch, Henri Wingfield, John C. Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 16, issue 1, page 20190733 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2020 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 2024-08-12T04:27:45Z Life-history theory predicts that, to optimize their fitness, individuals should increase their reproductive effort as their residual reproductive value decreases. Accordingly, several studies have shown that individuals downregulate their glucocorticoid stress response (a proxy of reproductive investment in vertebrates) as they age, and as the subsequent reproductive value decreases. However, and surprisingly, results appear inconsistent, suggesting that the environmental context or the individual state may affect the relationship between age and reproductive effort. Here, we tested for the first time this hypothesis, and more specifically, whether this attenuation of the corticosterone stress response with advancing age depends on the energetic status of individuals. We compared the influence of age on the corticosterone stress response between fasting and non-fasting breeding snow petrels ( Pagodroma nivea ), an extremely long-lived bird. As expected, we found that the corticosterone stress response was attenuated in old petrels, but only when they were not fasting. Interestingly, this pattern was not apparent in fasting petrels, suggesting that old birds downregulate their corticosterone stress response and increase their parental investment only when they are in good body condition. At the ultimate level, old individuals may maintain a strong corticosterone stress response when fasting because the survival costs of increased stress resistance and parental effort might then outweigh their reproductive benefits. Article in Journal/Newspaper Snow Petrels The Royal Society Biology Letters 16 1 20190733 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Life-history theory predicts that, to optimize their fitness, individuals should increase their reproductive effort as their residual reproductive value decreases. Accordingly, several studies have shown that individuals downregulate their glucocorticoid stress response (a proxy of reproductive investment in vertebrates) as they age, and as the subsequent reproductive value decreases. However, and surprisingly, results appear inconsistent, suggesting that the environmental context or the individual state may affect the relationship between age and reproductive effort. Here, we tested for the first time this hypothesis, and more specifically, whether this attenuation of the corticosterone stress response with advancing age depends on the energetic status of individuals. We compared the influence of age on the corticosterone stress response between fasting and non-fasting breeding snow petrels ( Pagodroma nivea ), an extremely long-lived bird. As expected, we found that the corticosterone stress response was attenuated in old petrels, but only when they were not fasting. Interestingly, this pattern was not apparent in fasting petrels, suggesting that old birds downregulate their corticosterone stress response and increase their parental investment only when they are in good body condition. At the ultimate level, old individuals may maintain a strong corticosterone stress response when fasting because the survival costs of increased stress resistance and parental effort might then outweigh their reproductive benefits. |
author2 |
Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor FP7 People: Marie-Curie Actions |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Angelier, Frédéric Chastel, Olivier Lendvai, Adam Z. Parenteau, Charline Weimerskirch, Henri Wingfield, John C. |
spellingShingle |
Angelier, Frédéric Chastel, Olivier Lendvai, Adam Z. Parenteau, Charline Weimerskirch, Henri Wingfield, John C. When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels |
author_facet |
Angelier, Frédéric Chastel, Olivier Lendvai, Adam Z. Parenteau, Charline Weimerskirch, Henri Wingfield, John C. |
author_sort |
Angelier, Frédéric |
title |
When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels |
title_short |
When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels |
title_full |
When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels |
title_fullStr |
When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels |
title_full_unstemmed |
When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels |
title_sort |
when do older birds better resist stress? a study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 |
genre |
Snow Petrels |
genre_facet |
Snow Petrels |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 16, issue 1, page 20190733 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0733 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
20190733 |
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1810479140544970752 |