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September 25, 2023Functional EcologyOpen Access

Breeding under pressure: Corticosterone is associated with reproductive investment under fluctuating predation risk in a long‐lived sea duck

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Authors

BMBertille MohringMÖMarkus ÖstKJKim Jaatinen

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Overview

Longitudinal study reveals higher corticosterone correlates with increased reproductive investment in common eiders, indicating adaptive hormonal adjustments to fluctuating predation risk.

Key Points

  • To determine how baseline corticosterone relates to reproductive investment and fitness under fluctuating predation risk in a wild population of long-lived sea ducks.
  • Conducted a long-term individual-based monitoring study of female common eiders (Somateria mollissima) across open and forested breeding islands from 2009 to 2022 (nCORT = 1537, nindividual = 790).
  • Partitioned within- and among-individual variations in baseline corticosterone across female age, clutch size, hatching success, and white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) predation pressure.
  • Baseline corticosterone levels were positively associated with clutch size, female age, and hatching success, with corticosterone adjusting flexibly within individuals as reproductive investment increased.
  • Baseline corticosterone levels decreased over the study period as predation risk rose, with females showing reduced corticosterone under high eagle abundance specifically on open nesting islands.

Cite This Study

Mohring et al. (2023) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a6f7b6fabc331a858078d6chttps://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14435
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Also Consider

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  1. 1Environment‐dependent relationships between corticosterone and energy expenditure during reproduction: Insights from seabirds in the context of climate change2024 · 4 citations
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  4. 4Drivers of within- and among-individual variation in risk-taking behaviour during reproduction in a long-lived bird2022 · 18 citations
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