Corticosterone shifts reproductive behaviour towards self-maintenance in the barn owl and is linked to melanin-based coloration in females.

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Etat: Public
Version: Final published version
ID Serval
serval:BIB_07F28D83F936
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Corticosterone shifts reproductive behaviour towards self-maintenance in the barn owl and is linked to melanin-based coloration in females.
Périodique
Hormones and Behavior
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Almasi B., Roulin A., Jenni L.
ISSN
1095-6867 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0018-506X
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2013
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
64
Numéro
1
Pages
161-171
Langue
anglais
Résumé
Trade-offs between the benefits of current reproduction and the costs to future reproduction and survival are widely recognized. However, such trade-offs might only be detected when resources become limited to the point where investment in one activity jeopardizes investment in others. The resolution of the trade-off between reproduction and self-maintenance is mediated by hormones such as glucocorticoids which direct behaviour and physiology towards self-maintenance under stressful situations. We investigated this trade-off in male and female barn owls in relation to the degree of heritable melanin-based coloration, a trait that reflects the ability to cope with various sources of stress in nestlings. We increased circulating corticosterone in breeding adults by implanting a corticosterone-releasing-pellet, using birds implanted with a placebo-pellet as controls. In males, elevated corticosterone reduced the activity (i.e. reduced home-range size and distance covered within the home-range) independently of coloration, while we could not detect any effect on hunting efficiency. The effect of experimentally elevated corticosterone on female behaviour was correlated with their melanin-based coloration. Corticosterone (cort-) induced an increase in brooding behaviour in small-spotted females, while this hormone had no detectable effect in large-spotted females. Cort-females with small eumelanic spots showed the normal body-mass loss during the early nestling period, while large spotted cort-females did not lose body mass. This indicates that corticosterone induced a shift towards self-maintenance in males independently on their plumage, whereas in females this shift was observed only in large-spotted females.
Mots-clé
Corticosterone, Reproduction, Stress-hormones, Melanism
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Oui
Création de la notice
09/03/2013 20:58
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 12:30
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