Strategic adjustment of parental care in tree swallows: life-history trade-offs and the role of glucocorticoids

dc.contributor.authorAkçay, Çağlaren
dc.contributor.authorLendavi, Ádámen
dc.contributor.authorStanback, Marken
dc.contributor.authorHaussmann, Mark F.en
dc.contributor.authorMoore, Ignacio T.en
dc.contributor.authorBonier, Franen
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-06T18:38:06Zen
dc.date.available2019-11-06T18:38:06Zen
dc.date.issued2016-11-11en
dc.description.abstractLife-history theory predicts that optimal strategies of parental investment will depend on ecological and social factors, such as current brood value and offspring need. Parental care strategies are also likely to be mediated in part by the hypothalamic– pituitary–adrenal axis and glucocorticoid hormones. Here, we present an experiment in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), a biparental songbird with wide geographical distribution, asking whether parental care is strategically adjusted in response to signals of offspring need and brood value and if so, whether glucocorticoids are involved in these adjustments. Using an automated playback system, we carried out playbacks of nestling begging calls specifically to females in two populations differing in their brood value: a northern population in Ontario, Canada (relatively higher brood value) and a southern population in North Carolina, USA (relatively lower brood value). We quantified female offspring provisioning rates before and during playbacks and plasma corticosterone levels (cort) once during late incubation and once immediately after playbacks. Females in both populations increased feeding rates temporarily during the first 2 h of playback but the increase was not sustained for the entire duration of playback (6 h). Cort levels from samples at the end of the playback did not differ between control females and females that received playbacks. However, females that had higher increases in cort between the incubation and nestling period had greater fledging success. These results suggest that females are able to strategically respond to offspring need, although the role of glucocorticoids in this strategic adjustment remains unclear.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (F.B., I.T.M. and M.H.; IOS- 1145625), and by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship (F.B.). During the preparation of the manuscript, Á.Z.L. was supported by a grant from the Hungarian Research Fund (OTKA K 113108).en
dc.format.extent12 pagesen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationAkçay Ç, Lendvai ÁZ, Stanback M, Haussmann M, Moore IT, Bonier F. 2016 Strategic adjustment of parental care in tree swallows: life-history trade-offs and the role of glucocorticoids. R. Soc. open sci. 3: 160740. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160740en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160740en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/95310en
dc.identifier.volume3en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherRoyal Societyen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectBiology (whole organism)en
dc.subjectbehaviour/physiologyen
dc.subjectcorticosteroneen
dc.subjectnestling beggingen
dc.subjectprovisioningen
dc.subjectbrood valueen
dc.subjectlatitudeen
dc.subjectfitnessen
dc.titleStrategic adjustment of parental care in tree swallows: life-history trade-offs and the role of glucocorticoidsen
dc.title.serialRoyal Society Open Scienceen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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