Physiological Conditions of Parent and Offspring Black-Browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-3-2017
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2017.1314447
Abstract
Capsule: In Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris nutritional condition is correlated between parents and their offspring.
Aims: To test resource allocation hypotheses analysing the relationship between parental and offspring nutritional condition.
Methods: We measured blood chemistry parameters related with nutritional condition in 24 parents and their nestlings in a colony of Black-browed Albatrosses.
Results: There were no significant differences in blood parameters between sexes or location of the nest within the colony, neither among adults nor among nestlings. We found a significant positive correlation between parents and the nutritional condition of their offspring, measured as urea, uric acid and beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations in blood.
Discussion: These relationships demonstrate that condition of the young seems to be merely a reflection of parental condition. An interesting relationship between alkaline phosphatase concentration in adults and nutritional condition of their nestlings was found, suggesting that age of the parents would be a key factor explaining quality of the nestling.
Publication Information
Ferrer, Miguel; Morandini, Virginia; Perry, Lynelle; and Bechard, Marc. (2017). "Physiological Conditions of Parent and Offspring Black-Browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris". Bird Study, 64(2), 187-194.