Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird

Life‐history trade‐offs are influenced by variation in individual state, with individuals in better condition often completing life‐history stages with greater success. Although resource accrual significantly impacts key life‐history decisions such as the timing of reproduction, little is known abou...

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Main Authors:	Hennin, Holly L., Wells‐Berlin, Alicia M., Love, Oliver P.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4755010/

id	pubmed-4755010
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-47550102016-02-26 Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird Hennin, Holly L. Wells‐Berlin, Alicia M. Love, Oliver P. Original Research Life‐history trade‐offs are influenced by variation in individual state, with individuals in better condition often completing life‐history stages with greater success. Although resource accrual significantly impacts key life‐history decisions such as the timing of reproduction, little is known about the underlying mechanisms driving resource accumulation. Baseline corticosterone (CORT, the primary avian glucocorticoid) mediates daily and seasonal energetics, responds to changes in food availability, and has been linked to foraging behavior, making it a strong potential driver of individual variation in resource accrual and deposition. Working with a captive colony of white‐winged scoters (Melanitta fusca deglandi), we aimed to causally determine whether variation in baseline CORT drives individual body mass gains mediated through fattening rate (plasma triglycerides corrected for body mass). We implanted individuals with each of three treatment pellets to elevate CORT within a baseline range in a randomized order: control, low dose of CORT, high dose of CORT, then blood sampled and recorded body mass over a two‐week period to track changes in baseline CORT, body mass, and fattening rates. The high CORT treatment significantly elevated levels of plasma hormone for a short period of time within the biologically relevant, baseline range for this species, but importantly did not inhibit the function of the HPA (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal) axis. Furthermore, an elevation in baseline CORT resulted in a consistent increase in body mass throughout the trial period compared to controls. This is some of the first empirical evidence demonstrating that elevations of baseline CORT within a biologically relevant range have a causal, direct, and positive influence on changes in body mass. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4755010/ /pubmed/26925215 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1999 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Hennin, Holly L. Wells‐Berlin, Alicia M. Love, Oliver P.
spellingShingle	Hennin, Holly L. Wells‐Berlin, Alicia M. Love, Oliver P. Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird
author_facet	Hennin, Holly L. Wells‐Berlin, Alicia M. Love, Oliver P.
author_sort	Hennin, Holly L.
title	Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird
title_short	Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird
title_full	Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird
title_fullStr	Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird
title_full_unstemmed	Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird
title_sort	baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird
description	Life‐history trade‐offs are influenced by variation in individual state, with individuals in better condition often completing life‐history stages with greater success. Although resource accrual significantly impacts key life‐history decisions such as the timing of reproduction, little is known about the underlying mechanisms driving resource accumulation. Baseline corticosterone (CORT, the primary avian glucocorticoid) mediates daily and seasonal energetics, responds to changes in food availability, and has been linked to foraging behavior, making it a strong potential driver of individual variation in resource accrual and deposition. Working with a captive colony of white‐winged scoters (Melanitta fusca deglandi), we aimed to causally determine whether variation in baseline CORT drives individual body mass gains mediated through fattening rate (plasma triglycerides corrected for body mass). We implanted individuals with each of three treatment pellets to elevate CORT within a baseline range in a randomized order: control, low dose of CORT, high dose of CORT, then blood sampled and recorded body mass over a two‐week period to track changes in baseline CORT, body mass, and fattening rates. The high CORT treatment significantly elevated levels of plasma hormone for a short period of time within the biologically relevant, baseline range for this species, but importantly did not inhibit the function of the HPA (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal) axis. Furthermore, an elevation in baseline CORT resulted in a consistent increase in body mass throughout the trial period compared to controls. This is some of the first empirical evidence demonstrating that elevations of baseline CORT within a biologically relevant range have a causal, direct, and positive influence on changes in body mass.
publisher	John Wiley and Sons Inc.
publishDate	2016
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4755010/
_version_	1613539144244396032

Baseline glucocorticoids are drivers of body mass gain in a diving seabird

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