Susanne Jenni-eiermann
Swiss Ornithological Institute, Ecophysiology, Department Member
Appendix A. A table showing the number of samples analyzed for estimating the concentration of fecal corticosterone metabolites obtained from snow burrows, a figure showing the method for extracting activity budgets from radio-tracking data, and a figure showing the relationship between respirato...more
A table showing the number of samples analyzed for estimating the concentration of fecal corticosterone metabolites obtained from snow burrows, a figure showing the method for extracting activity budgets from radio-tracking data, and a... more
A table showing the number of samples analyzed for estimating the concentration of fecal corticosterone metabolites obtained from snow burrows, a figure showing the method for extracting activity budgets from radio-tracking data, and a figure showing the relationship between respiratory metabolism and ambient temperature obtained from captive birds in the lab.
Research Interests: Environmental Science, Ecology, Tourism, Black Grouse, Birds, and 3 moreSNOW, Alpine Ecosystems, and Feces
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1. The concentration of the glucocorticoid hormone corticosterone (CORT) is increasingly used in ecology and conservation biology as an integrated measure of the historical record of an individual's hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)... more
1. The concentration of the glucocorticoid hormone corticosterone (CORT) is increasingly used in ecology and conservation biology as an integrated measure of the historical record of an individual's hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity during feather growth. However, where and how CORT is incorporated in feathers is incompletely known. 2. We therefore examined whether CORT is reliably measured with an enzyme immunoassay, where CORT is incorporated in the feather and where it affects feather quality, and whether CORT incorporation is related to plasma CORT levels, feather growth rate and melanin pigmentation. 3. During regrowth of plucked tail feathers, we injected pigeons with tritium-labelled CORT, and implanted a CORT-releasing pellet to increase plasma CORT concentration for about three days. In feather segments we measured labelled CORT (DPM3H) and we quantified CORT with an enzyme immunoassay EIA (CORTEIA) and double-checked the results with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS) (CORTMS). 4. Administered CORT affected feather structure and colour at the very base of the feather (epidermal collar, ramogenic zone) and reduced growth rate. In contrast, incorporation of CORT into the feather happened mainly in the blood quill, as shown with all three methods (DPM3H, CORTEIA, and CORTMS). 5. Incorporation of CORT into feathers was only roughly proportional to plasma concentration, proportional to feather-growth rate and increased with melanin pigmentation. 6. Measuring CORT in feather is a way to reveal past events of increased stress during feather growth in birds
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Research Interests: Physiology, Zoology, Biology, Medicine, Corticosterone, and 3 moreSWIFT, Veterinary Sciences, and Feather
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... to cross a desert Susanne Jenni-Eiermann Bettina Almasi Ivan Maggini Volker Salewski Bruno Bruderer Felix Liechti Lukas Jenni Received: 14 June 2010 / Revised: 12 July 2010 / Accepted: 27 July 2010 / Published online: 19... more
... to cross a desert Susanne Jenni-Eiermann Bettina Almasi Ivan Maggini Volker Salewski Bruno Bruderer Felix Liechti Lukas Jenni Received: 14 June 2010 / Revised: 12 July 2010 / Accepted: 27 July 2010 / Published online: 19 August 2010 Ó Dt. ...
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Research Interests: Geography, Economics, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity, and 15 moreBiological Sciences, Biodiversity Conservation, Impact Factor, Humans, Animals, Corticosterone, Field Experiment, Comparative Analysis, Free Riding, Galliformes, Feces, HUman Disturbance, Conservation of Natural Resources, Large Scale, and Bird diseases
Research Interests: Biology, Medicine, Energy Metabolism, Biological Sciences, Foraging, and 15 moreCues, Animals, Corticosterone, Animal migration, Songbirds, Bird Migration, Feeding Behavior, Eating, Geomagnetic field, Magnetics, Adrenal cortex, Migratory Birds, Juvenile, Experimental Biology, and Medical and Health Sciences
In birds, feather corticosterone values (CORTf) are increasingly used as a retrospective and integrative proxy of an individual's physiological state during the period of feather growth. Relatively high CORTf values are usually... more
In birds, feather corticosterone values (CORTf) are increasingly used as a retrospective and integrative proxy of an individual's physiological state during the period of feather growth. Relatively high CORTf values are usually interpreted as an indicator of exposure to energy-demanding or stressful conditions during feather growth. However, in nestlings this interpretation might not always hold true. The reasons are that, firstly nestlings (especially altricial ones) still develop their hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) reactivity during the growth of their feathers. Hence, at a young age, nestlings might be unable to mount a substantial adrenocortical stress response. Secondly, some species are able to down-regulate their metabolism during food scarcity and therewith probably also their CORT release. Consequently, CORTf values may not unambiguously reflect whether nestlings have suffered from energy-demanding or stress situations. Relatively high CORTf values might indicate either energy-demanding or stressful conditions ('stress responsive hypothesis'), or - conversely - favourable conditions during the period of feather growth ('hypo-responsive hypothesis'). In the altricial Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba), we tested which factors help to distinguish between the two hypotheses by considering factors which affect CORT release (brood size, weather) and factors which are affected by high CORT levels (nestling size and condition). We measured CORTf in 205 nestlings over 7 years and collected data on brood size, body size, body condition and prevailing weather. Nestling CORTf values were positively correlated with body condition and negatively with adverse weather, supporting the hypo-responsive hypothesis. Results from the Alpine swift study, supplemented with a survey of the literature, show that relatively easily collected parameters on brood size, nestling size and condition, and environmental factors can help to distinguish between the two hypotheses. A meaningful interpretation of nestling CORTf should only be made in the context of species-specific traits.
Research Interests: Physiology, Zoology, Biology, Medicine, Corticosterone, and 3 moreSWIFT, Veterinary Sciences, and Feather
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ABSTRACT
Research Interests: Information Systems, Zoology, Biology, Ecology, Ibis, and 4 morePredation, Digestive Tract, Feces, and Alimentary Tract
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... Indeed, Baggott (1977) observed higher free fatty-acid levels in the evening than in the morning in Phylloscopus trochilus and deGraw et al. (1979) a transient decrease around 11 00h in captive Zonotrichia leucophyrs gambelii. ...
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ABSTRACT
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Information from the geomagnetic field induce changes in corticosterone secretion in a migratory bird
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Food shortage challenges the development of nestlings; yet, to cope with this stressor, nestlings can induce stress responses to adjust metabolism or behaviour. Food shortage also enhances the antagonism between siblings, but it remains... more
Food shortage challenges the development of nestlings; yet, to cope with this stressor, nestlings can induce stress responses to adjust metabolism or behaviour. Food shortage also enhances the antagonism between siblings, but it remains unclear whether the stress response induced by food shortage operates via the individual nutritional state or via the social environment experienced. In addition, the understanding of these processes is hindered by the fact that effects of food availability often co-vary with other environmental factors. We used a food supplementation experiment to test the effect of food availability on two complementary stress measures, feather corticosterone (CORTf) and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio (H/L) in developing red kite (Milvus milvus) nestlings, a species with competitive brood hierarchy. By statistically controlling for the effect of food supplementation on the nestlings' body condition, we disentangled the effects of food and ambient temperature on ne...
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Human recreational activities increase worldwide in space and frequency leading to higher rates of encounter between humans and wild animals. Because wildlife often perceive humans as predators, this increase in human disturbance may have... more
Human recreational activities increase worldwide in space and frequency leading to higher rates of encounter between humans and wild animals. Because wildlife often perceive humans as predators, this increase in human disturbance may have negative consequences for the individuals and also for the viability of populations. Up to now, experiments on the effects of human disturbance on wildlife have mainly focused on individual behavioral and stress-physiological reactions, on breeding success, and on survival. However, the effects on other physiological parameters and trans-generational effects remain poorly understood. We used a low-intensity experimental disturbance in the field to explore the impacts of human disturbance on telomere length in great tit (Parus major) populations and found a clear effect of disturbance on telomere length. Adult males, but not females, in disturbed plots showed shorter telomere lengths when compared to control plot. Moreover, variation in telomere len...
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Heavy physical work can result in physiological stress and suppressed immune function. Accordingly, long-distance migrant birds that fly for thousands of km within days can be expected to show immunosuppression, and hence be more... more
Heavy physical work can result in physiological stress and suppressed immune function. Accordingly, long-distance migrant birds that fly for thousands of km within days can be expected to show immunosuppression, and hence be more vulnerable to infections en route. The red knot Calidris canutus Linnaeus is a long-distance migrant shorebird. We flew red knots the equivalent of 1500 km over 6 days in a wind tunnel. The humoral and cell-mediated immune responses of the flyers were compared to those of non-flying controls. Humoral immunity was measured as antibody production against injected diphtheria and tetanus antigens, and cell-mediated response as phytohemagglutinin-induced wing-web swelling. Blood corticosterone levels, which may modulate immune function, were measured in parallel. The long flights had no detectable effects on humoral or cell-mediated immune responses, or on corticosterone levels. Thus, flight performance per se may not be particularly stressful or immunosuppressi...
Research Interests: Immune response, Biology, Biological Sciences, Animals, Corticosterone, and 13 moreNetherlands, Wind Tunnel, Immune system, Analysis of Variance, Charadriiformes, Immune function, Physiological Stress Markers, Animal Flight, Long Distance, Experimental Biology, Free flight, Stress Physiological, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests: Polymorphism, Sexual Selection, Melanin, Biology, Stress, and 13 moreAnimal Behaviour, Biological Sciences, Corticosterone, Negative Feedback, Barn Owl, Melanism, Tyto Alba, Handicap Principle, Condition dependence, Melanine, Genetic control, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Environmental factor
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Body temperature of endotherms shows substantial within- and between-individual variation, but the sources of this variation are not fully understood in wild animals. Variation in body temperature can indicate how individuals cope with... more
Body temperature of endotherms shows substantial within- and between-individual variation, but the sources of this variation are not fully understood in wild animals. Variation in body temperature can indicate how individuals cope with their environment via metabolic or stress-induced effects, both of which may relate to depletion of energy reserves. Body condition can reflect heat production through changes to metabolic rate made to protect energy reserves. Additionally, changes in metabolic processes may be mediated by stress-related glucocorticoid secretion, which is associated with altered blood-flow patterns that affect regional body temperatures. Accordingly, both body condition and glucocorticoid secretion should relate to body temperature. We used thermal imaging, a novel non-invasive method of temperature measurement, to investigate relationships between body condition, glucocorticoid secretion and body surface temperature in wild blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Individuals with lower body condition had lower eye-region surface temperature in both non-breeding and breeding seasons. Eye-region surface temperature was also negatively correlated with baseline circulating glucocorticoid levels in non-breeding birds. Our results demonstrate that body surface temperature can integrate multiple aspects of physiological state. Consequently, remotely-measured body surface temperature could be used to assess such aspects of physiological state non-invasively in free-living animals at multiple life history stages
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Many long-distance migratory birds sing extensively on their tropical African wintering grounds, but the function of this costly behavior remains unknown. In this study, we carry out a first empirical test of three competing hypotheses,... more
Many long-distance migratory birds sing extensively on their tropical African wintering grounds, but the function of this costly behavior remains unknown. In this study, we carry out a first empirical test of three competing hypotheses, combining a field study of great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) wintering in Africa with a comparative analysis across Palearctic-African migratory songbird species. We asked whether winter song (i) functions to defend nonbreeding territories, (ii) functions as practice to improve complex songs for subsequent breeding, or (iii) is a nonadaptive consequence of elevated testosterone carryover. We found support for neither the long-assumed territory-defense hypothesis (great reed warblers had widely overlapping home ranges and showed no conspecific aggression) nor the testosterone-carryover hypothesis (winter singing in great reed warblers was unrelated to plasma testosterone concentration). Instead, we found strongest support for the song-improvement hypothesis, since great reed warblers sang a mate attraction song type rather than a territorial song type in Africa, and species that sing most intensely in Africa were those in which sexual selection acts most strongly on song characteristics; they had more complex songs and were more likely to be sexually monochromatic. This study underlines how sexual selection can have far-reaching effects on animal ecology throughout the annual cycle
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Information from the geomagnetic field induce changes in corticosterone secretion in a migratory bird
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Research Interests: Physiology, Zoology, Biology, Medicine, Corticosterone, and 3 moreSWIFT, Veterinary Sciences, and Feather
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.04.005 0003-3472/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-n Personalities, i.e. consistent individual differences in behaviour, have been found in... more
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.04.005 0003-3472/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-n Personalities, i.e. consistent individual differences in behaviour, have been found in many animal populations. However, the reasons why personalities emerge, how they persist and the consequences they have in a changing environment are poorly understood. Factors influencing personalities include genetic background, prenatal (e.g. hormonal) and postnatal (e.g. environmental) conditions, and the strength of these factors can affect the consistency of personalities over time, and hence their flexibility in a changing environment. In birds, for example, hormones in eggs deposited by mothers can modulate aggressiveness of offspring and environmentally induced nutrition deficits in offspring can reduce neophobia later in life. Hence, investigating the fitness consequences of personalities requires the integration of physiological, behavioural and survival measures. We used the opportunity of a reintroduction project of grey partridge, Perdix perdix, to experimentally explore how multiple preand postnatal factors including measures of the hormone corticosterone were related to three behavioural traits. Then, we investigated whether the behaviours were repeatable and related to survival after release into the wild. Grey partridges showed distinct personalities affected by multiple preand postnatal factors. Proactive birds had low baseline levels of circulating corticosterone and survived longer after release into the wild compared to reactive and passive personalities. Consequently, the number of survivors after 6 months was substantially higher for proactive than for reactive and passive birds. Integrating data on behaviour, physiology and survival thus allows the investigation of the complex interplay of personality and fitness in a changing environment. © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).