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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2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://doaj.org/article/3e4feb737c114c849f4bfd8a0fc55cfe |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:3e4feb737c114c849f4bfd8a0fc55cfe 2023-06-11T04:13:50+02:00 Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species Reyes Salas Luc Lens Eric Stienen Frederick Verbruggen Wendt Müller 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://doaj.org/article/3e4feb737c114c849f4bfd8a0fc55cfe EN eng The Royal Society https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.220839 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/3e4feb737c114c849f4bfd8a0fc55cfe Royal Society Open Science, Vol 9, Iss 10 (2022) early-life social environment behaviour phenotypic plasticity learning colonial breeding Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 2023-04-23T00:35:37Z 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 Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Royal Society Open Science 9 10 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
early-life social environment behaviour phenotypic plasticity learning colonial breeding Science Q |
spellingShingle |
early-life social environment behaviour phenotypic plasticity learning colonial breeding Science Q Reyes Salas Luc Lens Eric Stienen Frederick Verbruggen Wendt Müller Growing up in a crowd: social environment shapes the offspring's early exploratory phenotype in a colonial breeding species |
topic_facet |
early-life social environment behaviour phenotypic plasticity learning colonial breeding Science Q |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Reyes Salas Luc Lens Eric Stienen Frederick Verbruggen Wendt Müller |
author_facet |
Reyes Salas Luc Lens Eric Stienen Frederick Verbruggen Wendt Müller |
author_sort |
Reyes Salas |
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 |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://doaj.org/article/3e4feb737c114c849f4bfd8a0fc55cfe |
genre |
Lesser black-backed gull |
genre_facet |
Lesser black-backed gull |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science, Vol 9, Iss 10 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.220839 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.220839 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/3e4feb737c114c849f4bfd8a0fc55cfe |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220839 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
10 |
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1768391220924514304 |