Repeatability of baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels across early life stages in the Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) |
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Authors: | Rensel Michelle A Schoech Stephan J |
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Institution: | a Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Memphis, 3774 Walker Ave. Memphis, TN 38152, USAb Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, The University of California Los Angeles, 621 Charles Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA |
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Abstract: | Recent studies have posited that the pattern of glucocorticoid secretion within an individual represents a stable, fixed physiological trait. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the repeatability of baseline and stress-induced corticosterone (CORT) secretion across developmental stages and years in Florida scrub-jays. We sampled individuals from multiple cohorts repeatedly from the age of 11 days post-hatch up to 4 years of age. We found a significant degree of repeatability within individuals in stress-induced corticosterone levels, i.e., the amount of hormone secreted during a standardized stress protocol (corrected integrated corticosterone). However, baseline corticosterone levels were not statistically repeatable, although there was some indication that nestling levels predicted levels at 1 year of age. The results of this study indicate that stress-induced CORT levels are consistent within individual scrub-jays, and the degree to which a young jay mounts an acute stress response appears to be somewhat “set” by the age of nutritional independence. Thus stress-induced corticosterone secretion appears to be a stable, repeatable trait within individuals and as such may be subject to natural selection. |
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Keywords: | Glucocorticoids Stress response Repeatability Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis Physiological phenotype Florida scrub-jay |
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