Older parents are less responsive to a stressor in a long-lived seabird: a mechanism for increased reproductive performance with age?

被引:110
作者
Heidinger, Britt J.
Nisbet, Ian C. T.
Ketterson, Ellen D.
机构
[1] Indiana Univ, Dept Biol, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
[2] Indiana Univ, Ctr Integrat Study Anim Behav, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
[3] ICT Nisbet & Co, N Falmouth, MA 02556 USA
关键词
age; common tern (Sterna hirundo); corticosterone; life history evolution; parental care; stress response;
D O I
10.1098/rspb.2006.3557
中图分类号
Q [生物科学];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
In many taxa, reproductive performance increases throughout the lifespan and this may occur in part because older adults invest more in reproduction. The mechanisms that facilitate an increase in reproductive performance with age, however, are poorly understood. In response to stressors, vertebrates release glucocorticoids, which enhance survival but concurrently shift investment away from reproduction. Consequently, when the value of current reproduction is high relative to the value of future reproduction and survival, as it is in older adults, life history theory predicts that the stress response should be suppressed. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that older parents would respond less strongly to a stressor in a natural, breeding population of common terns (Sterna hirundo). Common terns are long-lived seabirds and reproductive performance is known to increase throughout the lifespan of this species. As predicted, the maximum level of glucocorticoids released in response to handling stress decreased significantly with age. We suggest that suppression of the stress response may be an important physiological mechanism that facilitates an increase in reproductive performance with age.
引用
收藏
页码:2227 / 2231
页数:5
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