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Yolk androgens in great tit eggs are related to male attractiveness, breeding density and territory quality

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Abstract

Females can adaptively adjust phenotype of their offspring via deposition of various compounds into eggs, including androgens and other hormones. Here, I investigated how egg yolk androgens (testosterone and androstenedione) related to environmental conditions and parental traits in the great tit (Parus major) across three breeding seasons. Male and female traits studied included age, condition and multiple feather ornaments, both carotenoid- and melanin-based (carotenoid and UV chroma of yellow breast feathers, area of black breast band and white cheek immaculateness). Yolk mass increased with laying temperature, laying date and area of male black breast band. Concentration of androgens increased with breeding density, territory quality and carotenoid chroma of male yellow breast feathers and was higher in mates of 1 year old as compared to older males. Yolk androgens were not related to any of the female traits analysed. These patterns were thus consistent with (1) social and environmental effects on yolk mass and composition and (2) both positive and negative differential allocation strategies of resource allocation in females. Overall, male traits were the most important predictors of egg yolk characteristics in this socially monogamous songbird.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Kristýna Bártlová, Beata Matysioková and Jana Šuterová for assistance in the field, Lubomír Kříž for running androgen assays, and Beata Matysioková and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. This study was supported by Czech Ministry of Education (MSM6198959212).

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  1. Laboratory of Ornithology, Palacký University, Tr. Svobody 26, 77146, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Vladimír Remeš

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Communicated by J. Graves

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Table S1

Correlations among clutch size, egg and yolk mass and composition characteristics (DOC 38 kb)

Table S2

Full results of the linear mixed models relating yolk characteristics to the factors of the environment, female traits and male traits (DOC 253 kb)

Table S3

Correlations among the three sets of independent variables, namely environmental factors, female traits and male traits (DOC 98 kb)

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Remeš, V. Yolk androgens in great tit eggs are related to male attractiveness, breeding density and territory quality. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65, 1257–1266 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1139-9

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