Simulated maternal stress reduces offspring aerobic swimming performance in Pacific salmon.

ABSTRACT: Pacific salmon routinely encounter stressors during their upriver spawning migration, which have the potential to influence offspring through hormonally-mediated maternal effects. To disentangle genetic vs. hormonal effects on offspring swimming performance, we collected gametes from three species of Pacific salmon (Chinook, pink and sockeye) at the end of migration and exposed a subset of eggs from each female to cortisol baths to simulate high levels of maternal stress. Fertilised eggs were reared to fry and put through a series of aerobic swim trials. Results show that exposure to cortisol early in development reduces maximum oxygen consumption while swimming, and decreases aerobic scope in all three species. Resting oxygen consumption did not differ between cortisol and control treatme

SUBMITTER: Banet AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6919300 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature