Great tits differ in glucocorticoid plasticity in response to spring temperature.

ABSTRACT: Fluctuations in environmental temperature affect energy metabolism and stimulate the expression of reversible phenotypic plasticity in vertebrate behavioural and physiological traits. Changes in circulating concentrations of glucocorticoid hormones often underpin environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity. Ongoing climate change is predicted to increase fluctuations in environmental temperature globally, making it imperative to determine the standing phenotypic variation in glucocorticoid responses of free-living populations to evaluate their potential for coping via plastic or evolutionary changes. Using a reaction norm approach, we repeatedly sampled wild great tit (Parus major) individuals for circulating glucocorticoid concentrations during reproduction across five years to q

SUBMITTER: Hau M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9653245 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature