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Glucocorticoid levels are linked to lifetime reproductive success and survival of adult barn owls
Author(s) -
Béziers Paul,
KornerNievergelt Fränzi,
Jenni Lukas,
Roulin Alexandre,
Almasi Bettina
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/jeb.13707
Subject(s) - corticosterone , biology , barn owl , glucocorticoid , reproductive success , reproduction , barn , hormone , endocrinology , zoology , ecology , demography , predation , population , civil engineering , sociology , engineering
Glucocorticoid hormones, such as corticosterone, are crucial in regulating daily life metabolism and energy expenditure, as well as promoting short‐term physiological and behavioural responses to unpredictable environmental challenges. Therefore, glucocorticoids are considered to mediate trade‐offs between survival and reproduction. Relatively little is known about how selection has shaped glucocorticoid levels. We used 15 years of capture–recapture and dead recovery data combined with 13 years of corticosterone and breeding success data taken on breeding barn owls ( Tyto alba ) to investigate such trade‐offs. We found that survival was positively correlated with stress‐induced corticosterone levels in both sexes, whereas annual and lifetime reproductive success (i.e. the sum of young successfully fledged during the entire reproductive career) was positively correlated with both baseline and stress‐induced corticosterone levels in females only. Our results suggest that, in the barn owl, the stress‐induced corticosterone response is a good proxy for adult survival and lifetime reproductive success. However, selection pressure appears to act differently on corticosterone levels of males and females.