stressful dieting nutritional conditions but not compensatory growth elevate corticosterone levels in zebra finch nestlings and fledglings压力饮食营养条件但不补偿性增长提高肾上腺酮水平斑胸草雀雏鸟和幼鸟.pdfVIP

Stressful Dieting: Nutritional Conditions but Not Compensatory Growth Elevate Corticosterone Levels in Zebra Finch Nestlings and Fledglings 1,2 3 1,4 Mariam Honarmand *, Wolfgang Goymann , Marc Naguib ¨ 1 Department of Animal Behaviour, University Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany, 2 Department of Animal Behaviour, Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 3 Max-Planck- ¨ ¨ Institut fur Ornithologie, Abteilung fur Verhaltensneurobiologie, Evolutionary and Environmental Physiology Lab, Seewiesen, Germany, 4 Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Heteren, The Netherlands Abstract Unfavourable conditions throughout the period of parental care can severely affect growth, reproductive performance, and survival. Yet, individuals may be affected differently, depending on the developmental period during which constraints are experienced. Here we tested whether the nestling phase compared to the fledgling phase is more susceptible to nutritional stress by considering biometry, physiology, sexually selected male ornaments and survival using zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) as a model species. As nestlings (day 0–17) or fledglings (day 17–35), subjects were raised either on low or high quality food. A low quality diet resulted in significantly elevated baseline corticosterone titres in both nestlings and fledglings. Subjects showed substantial compensatory growth after they had experienced low quality food as nestlings but catch-up growth did neither lead to elevated baseline corticosterone titres nor did we detect long term effects on biometry, male cheek patch, or survival. The compens