Influence of developmental conditions on birds’ phenotype, from hatching to adult stage

• Main Author: Dupont, Sophie
• Other Authors: La Rochelle, Angelier, Frédéric
• Format: Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Développement post-natal; Facteurs abiotiques; Soins parentaux; Physiologie du stress et de l’allostasie; Corticostérone; Télomères; Condition corporelle; Comportement; Albatros à sourcils noirs; Pétrel des neiges; Moineau domestique; Post-natal development; Abiotic factors; Parental care; Stress physiology; Body condition; Maternal behaviour; Black-browed albatross; Snow petrel; House sparrow; psy; envir; Snow Petrel
• Online Access: http://www.theses.fr/2019LAROS019/document

Post-natal development is a crucial step for the rest of life. Indeed, individual physiological and behavioral functions are set-up and matured during that life-stage and final morphology is acquired at that time. Any stress or constraint perceived by the offspring during this period can have significant morphological, physiological and/or behavioral consequences in the short but also in the long term. In fine, an individual’s fitness can be affected by the quality of its developmental conditions. This PhD aims to improve our understanding of the impact of abiotic developmental conditions (climate, human disturbance and exposure to a pesticide) and parental care on the quality of the produced chicks. Firstly, through the study of markers of stress and allostasis (stress response and telomere length) in Black-browed albatross and Snow petrel’s chicks, we demonstrated that in the short term, the quality of parental care - approximated by the age of the breeding individuals - was a major factor determining a chick’s phenotype. Secondly, the manipulation of corticosterone levels during development in House sparrow chicks (mimicking a developmental constraint) seems to have long-term impacts on individual performance. More precisely, in adulthood, I found that this experimental manipulation of developmental conditions was associated with a reduced metabolism, a reduced sexual attractiveness, and an increased parental investment during adulthood. Using the results obtained during this PhD, I discuss the influence of developmental conditions on individual fitness in an evolutionary context. Le développement post-natal est une étape cruciale pour le reste de la vie d’un individu car c’est à ce moment que sont finalisées et maturées les fonctions physiologiques et comportementales individuelles et que la morphologie finale est acquise. Toute contrainte ou tout stress perçu par la progéniture pendant cette période peut avoir des conséquences morphologiques, physiologiques et/ou comportementales non négligeables à court ...