Fecal corticosterone, body mass, and caching rates of Carolina chickadees ( Poecile carolinensis) from disturbed and undisturbed sites

Jeffrey R Lucas; Todd M Freeberg; Jeremy Egbert; Hubert Schwabl

doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.12.012

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Fecal corticosterone, body mass, and caching rates of Carolina chickadees ( Poecile carolinensis) from disturbed and undisturbed sites

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Fecal corticosterone, body mass, and caching rates of Carolina chickadees ( Poecile carolinensis) from disturbed and undisturbed sites

Jeffrey R Lucas, Todd M Freeberg, Jeremy Egbert and Hubert Schwabl

Hormones and behavior, Vol.49(5), pp.634-643

2006

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.12.012

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https://hdl.handle.net/2376/109030

PMCID: PMC1540716

PMID: 16458312

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Abstract

Poecile carolinensis

Caching

Fecal corticosterone

Forestry effects

Energy regulation

Chickadee

Forest disturbance

Stress

We tested for hormonal and behavioral differences between Carolina chickadees ( Poecile carolinensis) taken from a disturbed (recently logged) forest, an undisturbed forest, or a residential site. We measured fecal corticosterone and body mass levels in the field, and fecal corticosterone, body mass, and caching behavior in an aviary experiment. In the field, birds from the disturbed forest exhibited significantly higher fecal corticosterone levels than birds from either the undisturbed forest or from the residential site. Birds from the disturbed forest also exhibited lower body mass than those from the undisturbed forest but higher body mass than those from the residential site. Our aviary results suggest that these physiological differences between field sites are the result of short-term responses to ecological factors: neither body mass nor fecal corticosterone levels varied between birds captured at different sites. Aviary sample sizes were sufficient to detect seasonal variation in fecal corticosterone (lowest in summer), body mass (highest in spring), and rate of gain in body mass (highest in winter). Under “closed-economy” aviary conditions (all food available from a feeder in the aviary), there were no site differences in the percent of seeds taken from the feeder that were cached. However, under “open-economy” conditions (food occasionally available ad libitum), significantly fewer seeds were cached by birds from the disturbed forest compared to the undisturbed or residential sites. On average, there was only a two-fold difference in population levels of fecal corticosterone. This difference is about the same as an increase in fecal corticosterone induced by a 2-h increase in food deprivation and cannot be considered to be an acute stress response to disturbance.

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Title: Fecal corticosterone, body mass, and caching rates of Carolina chickadees ( Poecile carolinensis) from disturbed and undisturbed sites
Creators: Jeffrey R Lucas - Department of Biological Sciences, 915 W. State Street, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Todd M Freeberg - Department of Psychology, Austin Peay Building 303A, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Jeremy Egbert - Center for Reproductive Biology, School of Biolocical Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4236, USA
Hubert Schwabl - Center for Reproductive Biology, School of Biolocical Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4236, USA
Publication Details: Hormones and behavior, Vol.49(5), pp.634-643
Academic Unit: Biological Sciences, School of
Publisher: Elsevier Inc
Identifiers: 99900547269401842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article