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Under the weather: corticosterone levels in wild nestlings are associated with ambient temperature and wind

journal contribution
posted on 2020-01-01, 00:00 authored by Andrea Crino, Stephanie C Driscoll, Hanja B Brandl, Kate BuchananKate Buchanan, Simon C Griffith
Animals time reproductive events to overlap with periods of favorable environmental conditions. However, weather conditions can be unpredictable. Young animals may be particularly susceptible to extreme weather during sensitive developmental periods. Here, we investigated the effects of adverse weather conditions on corticosterone levels (a hormone linked to the avian stress response) and body condition of wild nestling zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). We sought to tease apart the direct versus indirect (i.e. parental) effects of weather on nestling physiology and condition by increasing parental work load with a clutch manipulation experiment. We found that high temperatures were associated with lower levels of restraint-induced corticosterone and high wind speeds were associated with higher levels of baseline corticosterone. We found no associations between weather and nestling body condition. However, clutch manipulation did affect body condition, with nestlings from experimentally enlarged clutches in worse condition compared to nestlings from experimentally reduced clutches. Our findings suggest that weather can directly affect wild nestlings via changes in corticosterone levels. Further research is needed to understand how changes in corticosterone levels affect phenotype and survival in wild nestlings. Understanding how developing animals respond to changes in environmental predictability and extreme weather is vital for understanding the potential for rapid adaptation in the face of changing climatic conditions.

History

Journal

General and comparative endocrinology

Volume

285

Article number

113247

Pagination

1 - 6

Publisher

Elsevier

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

0016-6480

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2019, Elsevier Inc.