Assessing the Cost of Helping The Roles of Body Condition and Oxidative Balance in the Seychelles Warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis) 英文参考文献.docVIP

AssessingtheCostofHelping:TheRolesofBody ConditionandOxidativeBalanceintheSeychelles Warbler(Acrocephalussechellensis) JanskevandeCrommenacker1,2*,JanKomdeur1,DavidS.Richardson3,4 1Behavioural Ecology and Self-Organization, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, 2Animal Ecology Group,CentreforEcologicalandEvolutionaryStudies,UniversityofGroningen,Groningen,TheNetherlands,3CentreforEcology,EvolutionandConservation,Schoolof BiologicalSciences,UniversityofEastAnglia,NorwichResearchPark,Norwich,England,4NatureSeychelles,Mahe′, RepublicofSeychelles Abstract Incooperativelybreedingspecies,helpingcloserelativesmayprovideimportantfitnessbenefits.However,helpingcanbe energetically expensive and may result in increased generation of reactive oxygen species. Consequently, an oxidant/ antioxidantimbalancecanleadtohigheroxidativestresssusceptibility.Giventhepotentialcostsofhelping,itmaybethat only individuals with a sufficiently good body condition and/or stable oxidative balance can afford to help. Knowledge aboutrelationshipsbetweensocialstatusandoxidativebalanceincooperativelybreedingsystemsisstilllimited.Studying theserelationshipsisimportantforunderstandingthecostsofhelpingandphysiologicalpressuresofreproduction.Here weevaluatetherelationshipbetweenhelpingbehaviour,bodyconditionandoxidativebalanceinawildpopulationofthe cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis). In this species, some subordinate individuals help dominant birds with the rearing of young, while others refrain from any assistance. We assessed body condition and oxidative parameters of birds of different social status caught during different breeding stages. We found that, prior to breeding, female subordinates that did not subsequently help (non-helpers) had significantly lower body condition and higher ROMs (reactive oxygen metabolites) than helpers and dominants. During the later stages of breeding, body conditi