Steroids for free? No metabolic costs of elevated maternal androgen levels in the black-headed gull

Within- and between-clutch variation in yolk titres of hormones of maternal origin has been found in many avian species. So far, experiments have revealed mainly beneficial effects of maternal androgens. This would also apply to black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus). Previous experiments have shown...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Experimental Biology
Main Authors: Eising, Corine M., Visser, G. Henk, Müller, Wendt., Groothuis, Ton G. G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2003
Subjects:
yolk androgen
maternal hormone
metabolism
energy consumption
daily energy expenditure
sibling competition
parental investment
chick growth
black-headed gull
Larus ridibundus
LABELED WATER METHOD
DARK-EYED JUNCOS
ENERGY-METABOLISM
PRECOCIAL BIRDS
GROWTH-RATE
BODY-MASS
OXYGEN-CONSUMPTION
LARUS-RIDIBUNDUS
HATCHING MUSCLE
YOLK ANDROGENS
Black-headed Gull
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/ba4bba2d-d080-48a6-8c3e-39855747df70
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/ba4bba2d-d080-48a6-8c3e-39855747df70
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00552
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/6675901/2003JExpBiolEising.pdf
Description
Summary:Within- and between-clutch variation in yolk titres of hormones of maternal origin has been found in many avian species. So far, experiments have revealed mainly beneficial effects of maternal androgens. This would also apply to black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus). Previous experiments have shown that chicks benefit from these higher levels since their competitive abilities are improved and growth and survival probabilities thus enhanced. However, not all females show the same increase in yolk hormones from first to last egg or invest equally high amounts of androgens in their clutches. Possibly, there is a trade-off between the beneficial effects of high androgen levels and potential costs, such as increased metabolic rates. We studied possible metabolic costs of experimentally elevated yolk androgen levels for chicks of several age classes, starting three days prior to hatching until fledging at an age of approximately 30 days. Daily energy expenditure in the field, measured using the doubly labelled water technique, did not differ between treatments or between sexes. Oxygen consumption measured in birds at rest in the lab (RMR) did not vary between chicks hatched from androgen-injected (T) or oil-injected (Oil) control eggs at any age in thermo-neutral or below thermo-neutral conditions. Males showed a lower RMR than females towards the fledging age. We conclude that it is unlikely that the costs of high maternal androgen levels can be found in higher energy expenditure in the chick.

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