10.5061/DRYAD.CC2FQZ632
Partecke, Jesko
0000-0002-9526-8514
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
Hegyi, Gergely
Eötvös Loránd University
Fitze, Patrick S.
0000-0002-6298-2471
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales
Gasparini, Julien
Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Paris
Schwabl, Hubert
0000-0001-8253-0133
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas
Maternal effects and urbanization: Variation of yolk androgens and
immunoglobulin in city and forest blackbirds
Dryad
dataset
2020
maternal effects
immunoglobulin
city and forest blackbirds
Turdus merula
yolk androgen concentrations
2021-01-15T00:00:00Z
2021-01-15T00:00:00Z
en
77085 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Wildlife inhabiting urban environments exhibit drastic changes in
morphology, physiology and behaviour. It has often been argued that these
phenotypic responses could be the result of micro-evolutionary changes
following the urbanization process. However, other mechanisms such as
phenotypic plasticity, maternal effects and developmental plasticity could
be involved as well. To address maternal effects as potential mechanisms,
we compared maternal hormone and antibody concentrations in eggs between
city and forest populations of European blackbirds (Turdus merula), a
widely distributed species for which previous research demonstrated
differences in behavioural and physiological traits. We measured egg and
yolk mass, yolk concentrations of androgens (androstenedione (A4),
testosterone (T), 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT), and immunoglobulins
(IgY) and related them to population, clutch size, laying order, embryo
sex, and progress of breeding season. We show: i) earlier onset of laying
in the city than forest population, but similar egg and clutch size; ii)
higher overall yolk androgen concentrations in the forest than the city
population (sex-dependent for T); iii) greater among-female variation of
yolk T and 5α-DHT concentrations in the forest than city population, but
similar within-clutch variation; iv) similar IgY concentrations with a
seasonal decline in both populations; and v) population-specific positive
(city) or negative (forest) association of yolk A4 and T with IgY
concentrations. Our results are consistent with the hypotheses that
hormone-mediated maternal effects contribute to differences in behavioural
and physiological traits between city and forest individuals and that yolk
androgen and immunoglobulin levels can exhibit population-specific
relationships rather than tradeoff against each other.