“Home alone!” influence of nest parental attendance on offspring behavioral and hormonal stress responses in an Antarctic seabird, the snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea).

• Published in: Hormones and Behavior
• Main Authors: Dupont, Sophie M., Barbraud, Christophe, Chastel, Olivier, Delord, Karine, Parenteau, Charline, Trouve, Colette, Angelier, Frédéric
• Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: Parental presence; Offspring stress sensitivity; Corticosterone stress response; Defensive behavior; Pagodroma nivea; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; Nivea; Antarc*; Snow Petrel
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03174399; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.104962

International audience In altricial species, parents brood their chicks constantly before leaving them unattended sometimes for extendedperiods when they become thermally independent. During this second phase, there is sometimes important interindividualdifferences in parental attendance and the fitness costs and benefits of parental strategies have previouslybeen extensively investigated. However, the impact of parental presence on offspring behaviors andstress physiology has been overlooked. Here, we examined the influence of parental presence on offspringhormonal and behavioral stress sensitivities in snow petrel chicks. We demonstrated for the first time in a wildbird species that attended chicks had lower stress-induced corticosterone levels and a lower probability to showdefensive behavior compared to the alone chicks. This reduced stress sensitivity is certainly explained by thewell-known link between corticosterone and nutritional status, and by the recent delivery of meals to theattended chicks and the improvement of their nutritional status. It may also be explained by the parental protectionagainst predators or inclement weather, or/and by the psychosocial comfort of parental presence for theoffspring. Overall, these results suggest that the presence of a parent in the nest reduces offspring stress sensitivityin wild birds. Further studies would now be required to disentangle the impact of nutritional status andparental presence on stress sensitivity and to better understand the potential impact of parental presence andcirculating corticosterone levels on growth and cognitive development in wild birds.