The stress of parenthood? Increased glucocorticoids in birds with experimentally enlarged broods

Abstract

Variation in baseline glucocorticoid (cort) levels can be attributed, at least in part, to differences in energetic demands confronting individuals. Elevated baseline cort levels are routinely interpreted as indicating individuals in poor condition, with low relative fitness. However, when greater reproductive effort increases energetic demands, individuals with high cort might paradoxically be those with the highest fitness. Here, we experimentally test the hypothesis that increased reproductive demand causes increases in baseline cort (the Cort-Adaptation hypothesis). We measured maternal baseline cort before and after experimentally enlarging and reducing brood sizes in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Females with experimentally enlarged broods had greater increases in baseline cort and fledged more offspring than females with reduced broods. Additionally, females with greater increases in baseline cort had higher offspring-provisioning rates than females with lower changes in cort. These findings demonstrate that increased reproductive demand can cause increased baseline cort. As yet, we do not know if these increases in cort cause increased allocation of resources towards reproduction, but the positive relationship between parental behaviour and cort suggests that increased cort does not always interfere with reproductive investment, and might instead facilitate it.

Figure 1.

Female tree swallows with experimentally enlarged broods had greater increases in baseline cort (mean ± s.e., post-manipulation cort divided by pre-manipulation cort; dark-shaded bars on left) than females with reduced broods. Additionally, females with experimentally enlarged broods had higher fitness (mean ± s.e., number of offspring fledged; light-shaded bars on right) than females with reduced or control broods. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences among groups. Sample sizes are provided within the bars.

Figure 2.

Maternal offspring-provisioning rate (number of trips to the nest per hour) plotted against change in baseline cort (post-manipulation cort divided by pre-manipulation cort). Female tree swallows with greater increases in cort provisioned their offspring at a higher rate (GLM, χ² = 14.25, p < 0.001). Reduced brood, open diamonds; control, open circles; increased, filled triangles.