Testosterone increases siblicidal aggression in black-legged kittiwake chicks (Rissa tridactyla)

Abstract

To compete for parental food deliveries nestling birds have evolved diverse behaviors such as begging displays and sibling aggression. Testosterone has been suggested to be an important mechanism orchestrating such competitive behaviors, but evidence is scarce and often indirect. Siblicidal species provide an interesting case in which a clear dominance hierarchy is established and the dominant chicks lethally attack siblings. We experimentally elevated testosterone in chicks of a facultatively siblicidal species, the black-legged kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla, and showed that testosterone-treated chicks were more aggressive toward their sibling than were control chicks. In such facultatively siblicidal species, chicks normally exhibit intense aggression only when threatened by starvation. Indeed, we found that chicks in relatively poorer condition were more aggressive than were chicks in better condition, even among testosterone-treated chicks, suggesting the action of an additional signal modulating aggression. Relatively larger siblings were also more aggressive than were relatively smaller siblings, confirming the importance of size advantage in determining dominance hierarchies within the brood. In addition, testosterone increased aggression toward a simulated predator, indicating that in kittiwakes testosterone can increase aggression in contexts other than siblicide. Testosterone promoted aggression-mediated dominance, which increased begging although testosterone treatment did not have a significant separate effect on begging. Therefore, testosterone production in the kittiwake and most likely other siblicidal species seems an important fitness mediator already early in life, outside the sexual context and not only manifesting itself in aggressive behavior but also in dominance-mediated effects on food solicitation displays toward parents.