Telomere length is a strong predictor of foraging behavior in a long-lived seabird
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Ecosphere, Jahrgang 6, Nr. 3, 39, 01.03.2015.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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T1 - Telomere length is a strong predictor of foraging behavior in a long-lived seabird
AU - Young, Rebecca C.
AU - Kitaysky, Alexander S.
AU - Barger, Chris P.
AU - Dorresteijn, Ine
AU - Ito, Motohiro
AU - Watanuki, Yutaka
N1 - Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Funding number: 13J06234
PY - 2015/3/1
Y1 - 2015/3/1
N2 - Telomeres are an increasingly studied component of physiological ecology. However, in longlived birds a large telomere loss with chronological age is not the norm. Telomeres are now regarded less as a chronological aging tool and more as an indicator of individual quality, residual lifespan, or biological age. If telomeres indicate biological aging processes, then they should also be associated with other variables that change with age, especially foraging and reproductive behaviors. This study compared telomere length to a suite of foraging parameters in Thick-billed Murres breeding on three colonies in the Bering Sea. Telomere length, environmental conditions at colonies, and sex played pivotal roles in determining foraging habitat selection. Spatial habitat use, foraging efficiency, and prey selection variables all changed with telomere length. The behavioral evidence indicates that despite losing telomeres, birds with short telomere length retain their ability to use the environment efficiently. This indicates that aging birds remain behaviorally flexible, despite paying physiological costs. Changes in spatial use were largely sex-dependent: females and males differed in their use of the environment as telomere lengths declined. Prey selection was related to telomere length and colony; changes in murre trophic level depended on telomere length, but their direction also depended on habitat quality. We found much support for the continued able functioning of birds with shorter telomeres, indicating that physiological aging does not carry only costs. Murres appear to modify their behavior depending on environmental conditions as their physiological reserves decline.
AB - Telomeres are an increasingly studied component of physiological ecology. However, in longlived birds a large telomere loss with chronological age is not the norm. Telomeres are now regarded less as a chronological aging tool and more as an indicator of individual quality, residual lifespan, or biological age. If telomeres indicate biological aging processes, then they should also be associated with other variables that change with age, especially foraging and reproductive behaviors. This study compared telomere length to a suite of foraging parameters in Thick-billed Murres breeding on three colonies in the Bering Sea. Telomere length, environmental conditions at colonies, and sex played pivotal roles in determining foraging habitat selection. Spatial habitat use, foraging efficiency, and prey selection variables all changed with telomere length. The behavioral evidence indicates that despite losing telomeres, birds with short telomere length retain their ability to use the environment efficiently. This indicates that aging birds remain behaviorally flexible, despite paying physiological costs. Changes in spatial use were largely sex-dependent: females and males differed in their use of the environment as telomere lengths declined. Prey selection was related to telomere length and colony; changes in murre trophic level depended on telomere length, but their direction also depended on habitat quality. We found much support for the continued able functioning of birds with shorter telomeres, indicating that physiological aging does not carry only costs. Murres appear to modify their behavior depending on environmental conditions as their physiological reserves decline.
KW - Brunnich's guillemot
KW - Data logger
KW - Diving behavior
KW - Foraging ecology
KW - Pribilof islands
KW - Seabird
KW - Telomeres
KW - Temperature-depth recorder
KW - Thick-billed murre
KW - Uria lomvia
KW - Ecosystems Research
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84926490099&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1890/ES14-00345.1
DO - 10.1890/ES14-00345.1
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:84926490099
VL - 6
JO - Ecosphere
JF - Ecosphere
SN - 2150-8925
IS - 3
M1 - 39
ER -