The stress response is attenuated during inclement weather in parental, but not in pre-parental, Lapland longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus) breeding in the Low Arctic

• Published in: Hormones and behavior Vol. 83; pp. 68 - 74
• Main Authors: Krause, Jesse S., Pérez, Jonathan H., Chmura, Helen E., Meddle, Simone L., Hunt, Kathleen E., Gough, Laura, Boelman, Natalie, Wingfield, John C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.2016; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Animal reproduction; Animals; Arctic Regions; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Birds; Calcarius lapponicus; Corticosterone; Corticosterone - physiology; Female; Hormones; HPA axis; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System - physiology; Life history trade-offs; Male; Nesting Behavior - physiology; Parental care; Passeriformes - physiology; Pituitary-Adrenal System - physiology; Reproduction - physiology; Seasons; Snowstorms; Stress; Stress response; Stress, Physiological - physiology; Weather; Parental care; HPA axis; Life history trade-offs; Corticosterone; Stress; Snowstorms
• ISSN: 0018-506X; 1095-6867
• DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.05.018

Birds breeding at high latitudes can be faced with extreme weather events throughout the breeding season. In response to environmental perturbations, vertebrates activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and synthesize corticosterone, which promotes changes in behavior and physiology to help the animal survive. The parental care hypothesis suggests that the HPA axis activity should be downregulated during the parental stage of breeding to prevent nest abandonment. However, it is unknown what happens to HPA axis activity in response to severe weather at the transition from the pre-parental to parental stages of breeding. We sampled baseline corticosterone levels and the time course of corticosterone elevation over 60min of restraint stress and assessed body condition and fat stores in Lapland longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus) breeding in the Low Arctic in the presence and absence of snowstorms. The results showed that during the pre-parental stage, HPA axis activity was up-regulated in response to snowstorms, with corticosterone levels continuing to increase through 60min of restraint. However, once birds were parental, HPA axis activity was unaffected by snowstorms and levels peaked at 10min. Fat levels and body condition did not change in response to snowstorms but fat levels declined in males during the pre-parental stage. These data suggest that the parental care hypothesis can be applied to severe storm events; parental birds restrained the activity of the HPA axis, likely to focus on the reproductive effort that is already underway, while pre-parental birds greatly upregulated HPA axis activity in response to snowstorms to maximize self-preservation. •We compared stress response in pre-parental and parental birds during snowstorms.•Pre-parental, but not parental birds, increased the stress responses during inclement weather.•Fat and body condition did not change in response to snowstorms regardless of parental status.•Thus, even during snowstorms the stress response conforms to the parental care hypothesis.