Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge
Determinants of individual variation in reallocation of limited resources towards self-maintenance versus reproduction are not well known. We tested the hypothesis that individual heterogeneity in long-term ‘somatic state’ (i) explains variation in endocrine and behavioural responses to environmenta...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 2024-06-23T07:56:27+00:00 Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge Benowitz-Fredericks, Z. M. Lacey, L. M. Whelan, S. Will, A. P. Hatch, S. A. Kitaysky, A. S. Alaska INBRE Sigma Xi ADVANCE National Science Foundation Gulf Watch Alaska 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 289, issue 1978 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2022 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 2024-06-10T04:15:10Z Determinants of individual variation in reallocation of limited resources towards self-maintenance versus reproduction are not well known. We tested the hypothesis that individual heterogeneity in long-term ‘somatic state’ (i) explains variation in endocrine and behavioural responses to environmental challenges, and (ii) is associated with variation in strategies for allocating to self-maintenance versus reproduction. We used relative telomere length as an indicator of somatic state and experimentally generated an abrupt short-term reduction of food availability (withdrawal of food supplementation) for free-living seabirds (black-legged kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla ). Incubating male kittiwakes responded to withdrawal by increasing circulating corticosterone and losing more weight compared to continuously supplemented controls. Males with longer telomeres increased time in directed travel regardless of treatment, while experiencing smaller increases in corticosterone. Males with longer telomeres fledged more chicks in the control group and tended to be more likely to return regardless of treatment. This study supports the hypothesis that somatic state can explain variation in short-term physiological and behavioural responses to challenges, and longer-term consequences for fitness. Male kittiwakes with longer telomeres appear to have prioritized investment in self over investment in offspring under challenging conditions. Article in Journal/Newspaper rissa tridactyla The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 289 1978 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Determinants of individual variation in reallocation of limited resources towards self-maintenance versus reproduction are not well known. We tested the hypothesis that individual heterogeneity in long-term ‘somatic state’ (i) explains variation in endocrine and behavioural responses to environmental challenges, and (ii) is associated with variation in strategies for allocating to self-maintenance versus reproduction. We used relative telomere length as an indicator of somatic state and experimentally generated an abrupt short-term reduction of food availability (withdrawal of food supplementation) for free-living seabirds (black-legged kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla ). Incubating male kittiwakes responded to withdrawal by increasing circulating corticosterone and losing more weight compared to continuously supplemented controls. Males with longer telomeres increased time in directed travel regardless of treatment, while experiencing smaller increases in corticosterone. Males with longer telomeres fledged more chicks in the control group and tended to be more likely to return regardless of treatment. This study supports the hypothesis that somatic state can explain variation in short-term physiological and behavioural responses to challenges, and longer-term consequences for fitness. Male kittiwakes with longer telomeres appear to have prioritized investment in self over investment in offspring under challenging conditions. |
author2 |
Alaska INBRE Sigma Xi ADVANCE National Science Foundation Gulf Watch Alaska |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Benowitz-Fredericks, Z. M. Lacey, L. M. Whelan, S. Will, A. P. Hatch, S. A. Kitaysky, A. S. |
spellingShingle |
Benowitz-Fredericks, Z. M. Lacey, L. M. Whelan, S. Will, A. P. Hatch, S. A. Kitaysky, A. S. Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge |
author_facet |
Benowitz-Fredericks, Z. M. Lacey, L. M. Whelan, S. Will, A. P. Hatch, S. A. Kitaysky, A. S. |
author_sort |
Benowitz-Fredericks, Z. M. |
title |
Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge |
title_short |
Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge |
title_full |
Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge |
title_fullStr |
Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge |
title_full_unstemmed |
Telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge |
title_sort |
telomere length correlates with physiological and behavioural responses of a long-lived seabird to an ecologically relevant challenge |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 |
genre |
rissa tridactyla |
genre_facet |
rissa tridactyla |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 289, issue 1978 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0139 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
289 |
container_issue |
1978 |
_version_ |
1802649532714975232 |