Breeding status affects the hormonal and metabolic response to acute stress in a long-lived seabird, the king penguin

• Published in: General and Comparative Endocrinology
• Main Authors: Viblanc, Vincent A., Gineste, Benoît, Robin, Jean-Patrice, Groscolas, René
• Other Authors: Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), IPEV;CNRS-INEE
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Glucocorticoids; Brood-value hypothesis; Lipid metabolism; Parental decisions; Life history trade-offs; Reproductive value; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; King Penguins
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01390563; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2016.07.021

International audience Stress responses are suggested to physiologically underlie parental decisions promoting the redirection ofbehaviour away from offspring care when survival is jeopardized (e.g., when facing a predator). Besidesthis classical view, the ‘‘brood-value hypothesis” suggests that parents’ stress responses may be adaptivelyattenuated to increase fitness, ensuring continued breeding when the relative value of the broodis high. Here, we test the brood-value hypothesis in breeding king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus),long-lived seabirds for which the energy commitment to reproduction is high. We subjected birds atdifferent breeding stages (courtship, incubation and chick brooding) to an acute 30-min capture stressand measured their hormonal (corticosterone, CORT) and metabolic (non-esterified fatty acid, NEFA)responses to stress. We found that CORT responses were markedly attenuated in chick-brooding birdswhen compared to earlier stages of breeding (courtship and incubation). In addition, NEFA responsesappeared to be rapidly attenuated in incubating and brooding birds, but a progressive increase inNEFA plasma levels in courting birds suggested energy mobilization to deal with the threat. Our resultssupport the idea that stress responses may constitute an important life-history mechanism mediatingparental reproductive decisions in relation to their expected fitness outcome