Citation

Grace JK, Anderson DJ. Biol. Lett. 2018; 14(1): e679.

Affiliation

Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Royal Society Publishing)

DOI

10.1098/rsbl.2017.0679

PMID

29321248

Abstract

Persistent phenotypic changes due to early-life stressors are widely acknowledged, but their relevance for wild, free-living animals is poorly understood. We evaluated effects of two natural stressors experienced when young (maltreatment by adults and nutritional stress) on stress physiology in wild Nazca boobies (Sula granti) 6-8 years later, an exceptionally long interval for such studies. Maltreatment as a nestling, but not nutritional stress, was associated years later with depressed baseline corticosterone in females and elevated stress-induced corticosterone concentration [CORT] in males. These results provide rare evidence of long-term hormonal effects of natural early-life stress, which may be adaptive mechanisms for dealing with future stressors.

© 2018 The Author(s).

Language: en

Keywords

abuse; growth rate; organizational effects