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1 November 2011 Nest Predation and Circulating Corticosterone Levels within and among Species
Joseph J. Fontaine, Elena Arriero, Hubert Schwabl, Thomas E. Martin
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Abstract

Variation in the risk of predation to offspring can influence the expression of reproductive strategies both within and among species. Appropriate expression of reproductive strategies in environments that differ in predation risk can have clear advantages for fitness. Although adult-predation risk appears to influence glucocorticosteroid levels, leading to changes in behavioral and life-history strategies, the influence of offspring-predation risk on adult glucocorticosteroid levels remains unclear. We compared total baseline corticosterone concentrations in Gray-headed Juncos (Junco hyemalis dorsalis) nesting on plots with and without experimentally reduced risk of nest predation. Despite differences in risk between treatments, we failed to find differences in total baseline corticosterone concentrations. When we examined corticosterone concentrations across a suite of sympatric species, however, higher risk of nest predation correlated with higher total baseline corticosterone levels. As found previously, total baseline corticosterone was negatively correlated with body condition and positively correlated with date of sampling. However, we also found that corticosterone levels increased seasonally, independent of stage of breeding. Nest predation can alter the expression of birds' reproductive strategies, but our findings suggest that total baseline corticosterone is not the physiological mechanism regulating these responses.

© 2011 by The Cooper Ornithological Society. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp.
Joseph J. Fontaine, Elena Arriero, Hubert Schwabl, and Thomas E. Martin "Nest Predation and Circulating Corticosterone Levels within and among Species," The Condor 113(4), 825-833, (1 November 2011). https://doi.org/10.1525/cond.2011.110027
Received: 14 February 2011; Accepted: 23 April 2011; Published: 1 November 2011
KEYWORDS
calendar effect
Corticosterone
life history
nest predation
Parental care
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