Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions
Seabird parents use a conservative breeding strategy that favours long-term survival over intensive parental investment, particularly under harsh conditions. Here, we examine whether variation in several physiological indicators reflects the balance between parental investment and survival in common...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:5622326 2023-05-15T18:41:32+02:00 Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions Storey, Anne E Ryan, Morag G Fitzsimmons, Michelle G Kouwenberg, Amy-Lee Takahashi, Linda S Robertson, Gregory J Wilhelm, Sabina I McKay, Donald W Herzberg, Gene R Mowbray, Frances K MacMillan, Luke Walsh, Carolyn J 2017-09-26 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622326/ https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox055 en eng Oxford University Press http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622326/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox055 © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press and the Society for Experimental Biology. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2017 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox055 2017-10-08T00:31:58Z Seabird parents use a conservative breeding strategy that favours long-term survival over intensive parental investment, particularly under harsh conditions. Here, we examine whether variation in several physiological indicators reflects the balance between parental investment and survival in common murres (Uria aalge) under a wide range of foraging conditions. Blood samples were taken from adults during mid-chick rearing from 2007 to 2014 and analysed for corticosterone (CORT, stress hormone), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BUTY, lipid metabolism reflecting ongoing mass loss), and haematocrit (reflecting blood oxygen capacity). These measures, plus body mass, were related to three levels of food availability (good, intermediate, and poor years) for capelin, the main forage fish for murres in this colony. Adult body mass and chick-feeding rates were higher in good years than in poor years and heavier murres were more likely to fledge a chick than lighter birds. Contrary to prediction, BUTY levels were higher in good years than in intermediate and poor years. Murres lose body mass just after their chicks hatch and these results for BUTY suggest that mass loss may be delayed in good years. CORT levels were higher in intermediate years than in good or poor years. Higher CORT levels in intermediate years may reflect the necessity of increasing foraging effort, whereas extra effort is not needed in good years and it is unlikely to increase foraging success in poor years. Haematocrit levels were higher in poor years than in good years, a difference that may reflect either their poorer condition or increased diving requirements when food is less available. Our long-term data set provided insight into how decisions about resource allocation under different foraging conditions are relating to physiological indicators, a relationship that is relevant to understanding how seabirds may respond to changes in marine ecosystems as ocean temperatures continue to rise. Text Uria aalge uria PubMed Central (PMC) Conservation Physiology 5 1 |
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English |
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Research Article |
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Research Article Storey, Anne E Ryan, Morag G Fitzsimmons, Michelle G Kouwenberg, Amy-Lee Takahashi, Linda S Robertson, Gregory J Wilhelm, Sabina I McKay, Donald W Herzberg, Gene R Mowbray, Frances K MacMillan, Luke Walsh, Carolyn J Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Seabird parents use a conservative breeding strategy that favours long-term survival over intensive parental investment, particularly under harsh conditions. Here, we examine whether variation in several physiological indicators reflects the balance between parental investment and survival in common murres (Uria aalge) under a wide range of foraging conditions. Blood samples were taken from adults during mid-chick rearing from 2007 to 2014 and analysed for corticosterone (CORT, stress hormone), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BUTY, lipid metabolism reflecting ongoing mass loss), and haematocrit (reflecting blood oxygen capacity). These measures, plus body mass, were related to three levels of food availability (good, intermediate, and poor years) for capelin, the main forage fish for murres in this colony. Adult body mass and chick-feeding rates were higher in good years than in poor years and heavier murres were more likely to fledge a chick than lighter birds. Contrary to prediction, BUTY levels were higher in good years than in intermediate and poor years. Murres lose body mass just after their chicks hatch and these results for BUTY suggest that mass loss may be delayed in good years. CORT levels were higher in intermediate years than in good or poor years. Higher CORT levels in intermediate years may reflect the necessity of increasing foraging effort, whereas extra effort is not needed in good years and it is unlikely to increase foraging success in poor years. Haematocrit levels were higher in poor years than in good years, a difference that may reflect either their poorer condition or increased diving requirements when food is less available. Our long-term data set provided insight into how decisions about resource allocation under different foraging conditions are relating to physiological indicators, a relationship that is relevant to understanding how seabirds may respond to changes in marine ecosystems as ocean temperatures continue to rise. |
format |
Text |
author |
Storey, Anne E Ryan, Morag G Fitzsimmons, Michelle G Kouwenberg, Amy-Lee Takahashi, Linda S Robertson, Gregory J Wilhelm, Sabina I McKay, Donald W Herzberg, Gene R Mowbray, Frances K MacMillan, Luke Walsh, Carolyn J |
author_facet |
Storey, Anne E Ryan, Morag G Fitzsimmons, Michelle G Kouwenberg, Amy-Lee Takahashi, Linda S Robertson, Gregory J Wilhelm, Sabina I McKay, Donald W Herzberg, Gene R Mowbray, Frances K MacMillan, Luke Walsh, Carolyn J |
author_sort |
Storey, Anne E |
title |
Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions |
title_short |
Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions |
title_full |
Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions |
title_fullStr |
Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions |
title_sort |
balancing personal maintenance with parental investment in a chick-rearing seabird: physiological indicators change with foraging conditions |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622326/ https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox055 |
genre |
Uria aalge uria |
genre_facet |
Uria aalge uria |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622326/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox055 |
op_rights |
© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press and the Society for Experimental Biology. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox055 |
container_title |
Conservation Physiology |
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5 |
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1 |
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1766231067987017728 |