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Sex-specific environmental sensitivity is transient in nestling Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)

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Abstract

Studies investigating how male and female offspring respond to poor environmental conditions have often focused on species in which members of one sex are considerably larger than the other. We studied the impact of reduced maternal provisioning on post-natal development in nestling Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), a species displaying slight-to-moderate sexual size dimorphism. We reduced maternal provisioning via maternal feather clipping, and studied the effects on growth rate, immune function, and corticosterone (CORT) levels of male and female nestlings. Nestlings of clipped mothers were lighter at hatch than nestlings of control mothers. There was also a trend for male nestlings of clipped mothers to be lighter at hatch than female nestlings, a pattern not detected in control nests, suggesting possible sex-specific embryonic sensitivity. Although female nestlings grew more slowly than male nestlings when faced with poor environmental conditions, this was only detected for the first few days post-hatch. Maternal feather clipping had no sex-specific effect on nestling CORT levels, or immune function. Interestingly, nestlings raised by feather-clipped mothers had a stronger immune response to a phytohaemagglutinin challenge than nestlings raised by control mothers. We conclude that Tree Swallows show sex-specific sensitivity to reduced environmental quality, but only during the early post-natal growth period.

Zusammenfassung

Geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede in der Empfindlichkeit gegenüber auf Umweltbedingungen bei Nestlingen der Sumpfschwalbe (Tachycineta bicolor) sind vorübergehend

Untersuchungen darüber, wie männlicher und weiblicher Nachkommen auf widrige Umweltbedingungen reagieren, haben sich oft auf Arten konzentriert, bei denen das eine Geschlecht deutlich größer ist als das andere. Wir untersuchten den Einfluss von geringerer mütterlicher Fürsorge auf die Entwicklung von Nestlingen der Sumpfschwalbe, einer Art mit einem geringen bis mittleren Sexualdimorphismus in der Körpergröße. Wir verringerten die mütterliche Fürsorge durch Stutzen von Federn und untersuchten die Auswirkungen auf Wachstumsrate, Immunfunktion und Corticosteron (CORT)-Level von männlichen und weiblichen Nestlingen. Nestlinge von Müttern mit gestutzten Federn waren beim Schlüpfen leichter als die der Kontrollgruppe ohne gestutzte Federn. Auch zeigte sich ein Trend, dass männliche Nestlinge beim Schlupf leichter waren als weibliche, was bei der Kontrollgruppe nicht festgestellt werden konnte. Dies deutet auf geschlechtsspezifische embryonale Unterschiede in der Sensitivität hin. Obwohl weibliche Nestlinge unter widrigen Bedingungen langsamer wuchsen als männliche, konnte dies aber nur für die ersten paar Tage nach dem Schlupf festgestellt werden. Das Stutzen von Federn der Mutter hatte keinen Einfluss auf das Immunsystem oder die CORT-Level bei den Nestlingen. Allerdings zeigten Nestlinge von Müttern mit gestutzten Federn eine stärkere Immunantwort auf Phytohaemagglutinin als solche von Müttern mit ungestutzten Federn. Wir schließen, dass Sumpfschwalben geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede in der Sensitivität auf widrige Umweltbedingungen zeigen, allerdings nur während einer kurzen Zeitspanne nach dem Schlupf.

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Acknowledgments

This study would not have been possible without the invaluable help of Smolly Coulson and Rhiannon Leshyk with molecular sexing, and of Eunice Chin with help measuring corticosterone. Emily Malcolm, Deanna Moher, Lanna Desantis, and Carley Smale provided field assistance. The comments of two anonymous referees greatly improved the manuscript. N.H. was supported through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)-Undergraduate Student Research Award, while research and equipment support came from grants provided by NSERC, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Innovation Trust to G.B. All experiments were approved by the Trent University Animal Care Committee, and were performed in accordance with current Canadian law.

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Correspondence to Gary Burness.

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Communicated by C. G. Guglielmo.

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Hogle, N.C., Burness, G. Sex-specific environmental sensitivity is transient in nestling Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). J Ornithol 155, 91–100 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-0991-y

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