Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species
In colonial breeding species, the number of adverse social interactions during early life typically varies with breeding density. Phenotypic plasticity can help deal with this social context, by allowing offspring to adjust their behaviour. Furthermore, offspring may not be unprepared since mothers...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsos.220839 2024-06-02T08:10:08+00:00 Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species Salas, Reyes Lens, Luc Stienen, Eric Verbruggen, Frederick Müller, Wendt Universiteit Antwerpen 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.220839 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Royal Society Open Science volume 9, issue 10 ISSN 2054-5703 journal-article 2022 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 2024-05-07T14:16:11Z In colonial breeding species, the number of adverse social interactions during early life typically varies with breeding density. Phenotypic plasticity can help deal with this social context, by allowing offspring to adjust their behaviour. Furthermore, offspring may not be unprepared since mothers can allocate resources to their embryos that may pre-adjust them to the post-hatching conditions. Thus, we hypothesize that lesser black-backed gull chicks raised in dense breeding areas, with greater exposure to intra-specific aggression, show higher levels of anxiety and lower levels of exploration compared to chicks in low-density areas, and that this is facilitated by prenatal effects. To test this, we cross-fostered clutches within and across pre-defined high- and low-breeding density areas. We measured chicks' anxiety and exploration activity in an open-field test that included a novel and a familiar object. We found that both pre- and post-natal social environment contributed nearly equally and shaped the offspring's exploratory behaviour, but not its anxiety, in an additive way. Post-natal effects could reflect a learned avoidance of intra-specific aggression, yet identifying the pathways of the prenatal effects will require further study. Article in Journal/Newspaper Lesser black-backed gull The Royal Society Royal Society Open Science 9 10 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
In colonial breeding species, the number of adverse social interactions during early life typically varies with breeding density. Phenotypic plasticity can help deal with this social context, by allowing offspring to adjust their behaviour. Furthermore, offspring may not be unprepared since mothers can allocate resources to their embryos that may pre-adjust them to the post-hatching conditions. Thus, we hypothesize that lesser black-backed gull chicks raised in dense breeding areas, with greater exposure to intra-specific aggression, show higher levels of anxiety and lower levels of exploration compared to chicks in low-density areas, and that this is facilitated by prenatal effects. To test this, we cross-fostered clutches within and across pre-defined high- and low-breeding density areas. We measured chicks' anxiety and exploration activity in an open-field test that included a novel and a familiar object. We found that both pre- and post-natal social environment contributed nearly equally and shaped the offspring's exploratory behaviour, but not its anxiety, in an additive way. Post-natal effects could reflect a learned avoidance of intra-specific aggression, yet identifying the pathways of the prenatal effects will require further study. |
author2 |
Universiteit Antwerpen |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Salas, Reyes Lens, Luc Stienen, Eric Verbruggen, Frederick Müller, Wendt |
spellingShingle |
Salas, Reyes Lens, Luc Stienen, Eric Verbruggen, Frederick Müller, Wendt Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
author_facet |
Salas, Reyes Lens, Luc Stienen, Eric Verbruggen, Frederick Müller, Wendt |
author_sort |
Salas, Reyes |
title |
Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
title_short |
Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
title_full |
Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
title_fullStr |
Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
title_full_unstemmed |
Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
title_sort |
growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.220839 |
genre |
Lesser black-backed gull |
genre_facet |
Lesser black-backed gull |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science volume 9, issue 10 ISSN 2054-5703 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
10 |
_version_ |
1800755945355083776 |