Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age?
In many taxa, reproductive performance increases throughout the lifespan and this may occur in part because older adults invest more in reproduction. The mechanisms that facilitate an increase in reproductive performance with age, however, are poorly understood. In response to stressors, vertebrates...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 2024-06-02T08:14:56+00:00 Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? Heidinger, Britt J Nisbet, Ian C.T Ketterson, Ellen D 2006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 273, issue 1598, page 2227-2231 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2006 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 2024-05-07T14:16:41Z In many taxa, reproductive performance increases throughout the lifespan and this may occur in part because older adults invest more in reproduction. The mechanisms that facilitate an increase in reproductive performance with age, however, are poorly understood. In response to stressors, vertebrates release glucocorticoids, which enhance survival but concurrently shift investment away from reproduction. Consequently, when the value of current reproduction is high relative to the value of future reproduction and survival, as it is in older adults, life history theory predicts that the stress response should be suppressed. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that older parents would respond less strongly to a stressor in a natural, breeding population of common terns ( Sterna hirundo ). Common terns are long-lived seabirds and reproductive performance is known to increase throughout the lifespan of this species. As predicted, the maximum level of glucocorticoids released in response to handling stress decreased significantly with age. We suggest that suppression of the stress response may be an important physiological mechanism that facilitates an increase in reproductive performance with age. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sterna hirundo The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273 1598 2227 2231 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
In many taxa, reproductive performance increases throughout the lifespan and this may occur in part because older adults invest more in reproduction. The mechanisms that facilitate an increase in reproductive performance with age, however, are poorly understood. In response to stressors, vertebrates release glucocorticoids, which enhance survival but concurrently shift investment away from reproduction. Consequently, when the value of current reproduction is high relative to the value of future reproduction and survival, as it is in older adults, life history theory predicts that the stress response should be suppressed. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that older parents would respond less strongly to a stressor in a natural, breeding population of common terns ( Sterna hirundo ). Common terns are long-lived seabirds and reproductive performance is known to increase throughout the lifespan of this species. As predicted, the maximum level of glucocorticoids released in response to handling stress decreased significantly with age. We suggest that suppression of the stress response may be an important physiological mechanism that facilitates an increase in reproductive performance with age. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heidinger, Britt J Nisbet, Ian C.T Ketterson, Ellen D |
spellingShingle |
Heidinger, Britt J Nisbet, Ian C.T Ketterson, Ellen D Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? |
author_facet |
Heidinger, Britt J Nisbet, Ian C.T Ketterson, Ellen D |
author_sort |
Heidinger, Britt J |
title |
Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? |
title_short |
Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? |
title_full |
Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? |
title_fullStr |
Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? |
title_sort |
older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age? |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 |
genre |
Sterna hirundo |
genre_facet |
Sterna hirundo |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 273, issue 1598, page 2227-2231 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3557 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
273 |
container_issue |
1598 |
container_start_page |
2227 |
op_container_end_page |
2231 |
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1800738960459169792 |