Abstract
While seasonal trends in testosterone levels are known from cross-cohort studies, data on testosterone inter-annual individual repeatability in wild birds are rare. Also, our understanding of hormonal age-dependent changes in testosterone levels is limited. We assessed plasma testosterone levels in 105 samples originating from 49 repeatedly captured free-living great tits (Parus major) sampled during the nesting to investigate their relative long-term repeatability and within-individual changes. Furthermore, we examined the inter-annual repeatability of condition-related traits (carotenoid- and melanin-based plumage ornamentation, ptilochronological feather growth rate, body mass, and haematological heterophil/lymphocyte ratio) and their relationships to testosterone levels. We show that testosterone levels are inter-annually repeatable in females, with a non-significant pattern in males, both in absolute values and individual ranks (indicating the maintenance of relative status in a population). In males, we found a quadratic dependence of testosterone levels on age, with a peak in midlife. In contrast, female testosterone levels showed no age-dependent trends. The inter-annual repeatability of condition-related traits ranged from zero to moderate and was mostly unrelated to plasma testosterone concentrations. However, males with elevated testosterone had significantly higher carotenoid-pigmented yellow plumage brightness, a trait presumably involved in mating. Showing inter-annual repeatability in testosterone levels, this research opens the way to further understanding the causes of variation in condition-related traits. Based on a longitudinal dataset, this study demonstrates that male plasma testosterone undergoes age-related changes that may regulate resource allocation. Our results thus suggest that, unlike females, male birds undergo hormonal senescence similar to mammals.
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Data availability
The data supporting the results are archived in the Dryad repository: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wdbrv15kv.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Hana Pinkasová, Jitka Vinklerová, Sylvie Dlugošová, Daniel Divín, Julie Vacková, Petra Blahutová, Petra Špatenková, Lenka Pelikánová, Barbora Stolínová, Monika Dvořáková, Martin Rychlý for their assistance with field sampling and Barbora Bílková, Zuzana Świderská and Tomáš Vrkoslav for their help in laboratory. We are also grateful to David Haderkopf for language corrections. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the earlier versions of the manuscript.
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This study was supported by Charles University (Grants Nos. GAUK 1158217, PRIMUS/17/SCI/12 and UNCE 204069), the Czech Science Foundation (Projects 19-20152Y and 15-11782S), Institutional Research Support No. 260571/2021) and by the Grant Agency of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Projects IGA 20144268 and IGA 20154214).
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MT, MV and TA: designed the study. MT, TK, HV, JS, PB, TA and MV: collected samples. MT, TK and JE: performed the laboratory analysis. MT and MV interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed with their comments to the final approved version of the manuscript.
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Těšický, M., Krajzingrová, T., Eliáš, J. et al. Inter-annual repeatability and age-dependent changes in plasma testosterone levels in a longitudinally monitored free-living passerine bird. Oecologia 198, 53–66 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05077-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-05077-5