Data from: Developmental stress increases reproductive success in male zebra finches

There is increasing evidence that exposure to stress during development can have sustained effects on animal phenotype and performance across life-history stages. For example, developmental stress has been shown to decrease the quality of sexually selected traits (e.g. bird song), and therefore is thought to decrease reproductive success. However, animals exposed to developmental stress may compensate for poor quality sexually selected traits by pursuing alternative reproductive tactics. Here, we examine the effects of developmental stress on adult male reproductive investment and success in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). We tested the hypothesis that males exposed to developmental stress sire fewer offspring through extra-pair copulations (EPCs), but invest more in parental care. To test this hypothesis, we fed nestlings corticosterone (CORT; the dominant avian stress hormone) during the nestling period and measured their adult reproductive success using common garden breeding experiments. We found that nestlings reared by CORT-fed fathers received more parental care compared with nestlings reared by control fathers. Consequently, males fed CORT during development reared nestlings in better condition compared with control males. Contrary to the prediction that developmental stress decreases male reproductive success, we found that CORT-fed males also sired more offspring and were less likely to rear non-genetic offspring compared with control males, and thus had greater overall reproductive success. These data are the first to demonstrate that developmental stress can have a positive effect on fitness via changes in reproductive success and provide support for an adaptive role of developmental stress in shaping animal phenotype. Usage Notes Dryad data

越来越多的研究证据表明，动物在发育过程中遭受发育应激（developmental stress），会对其表型（phenotype）以及跨生活史阶段（life-history stages）的整体表现产生持久影响。例如，已有研究证实发育应激会降低性选择性状（sexually selected traits）的品质（如鸟类鸣唱），因此被认为会降低个体的繁殖成功率（reproductive success）。然而，经历发育应激的动物可通过采取替代繁殖策略（alternative reproductive tactics），弥补性选择性状欠佳的缺陷。本研究以斑胸草雀（Taeniopygia guttata）为实验对象，探究发育应激对成年雄性繁殖投入与繁殖成功率的影响。我们提出如下假说：经历发育应激的雄性通过婚外配（extra-pair copulations, EPCs）所产生的后代数量更少，但会在育幼行为（parental care）上投入更多资源。为验证该假说，我们在实验对象的雏鸟阶段给其饲喂皮质酮（corticosterone, CORT，鸟类主要的应激激素），并通过同质园繁殖实验（common garden breeding experiments）测定其成年后的繁殖成功率。实验结果显示，由发育期间饲喂过皮质酮的雄性亲鸟抚育的雏鸟，其所获得的育幼照料要多于对照组雄性亲鸟抚育的雏鸟。因此，发育期间饲喂皮质酮的雄性，其抚育的雏鸟身体状况显著优于对照组雄性。与“发育应激会降低雄性繁殖成功率”的预设结论相反，我们发现饲喂皮质酮的雄性产生的后代数量更多，且相较于对照组雄性，它们抚育非遗传后代的概率更低，整体繁殖成功率更高。本研究首次证实，发育应激可通过改变繁殖成功率对动物适合度（fitness）产生积极影响，为发育应激在塑造动物表型过程中发挥适应性作用提供了实证支撑。使用说明：Dryad数据集