Retracted: Experimental evidence that maternal corticosterone controls adaptive offspring sex ratios
Date
2014
Authors
Pryke, Sarah
Rollins, Lee A.
Griffith, Simon C
Buttemer, William A
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Abstract
Sex allocation theory has received considerable attention, yet the mechanism(s) by which mothers skew offspring sex ratios remain unknown. In birds, females are the heterogametic sex, which potentially gives them control of whether gametes will be male or female. How females might control the sex of the gamete is unclear, but one possibility is that variation in steroid hormones may mediate this process. We experimentally altered circulating levels of corticosterone in female Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae), a species that demonstrates both extreme stress responses and extreme offspring sex ratio biases when breeding with a low-quality (genetically incompatible) partner. During egg production, individual females received both corticosterone and metyrapone (a corticosterone-synthesis inhibitor) implants, in random order, to induce both high and low levels of circulating stress hormones (within physiological limits). We found that females with elevated corticosterone levels produced male-biased sex ratios, but when the same females were treated with metyrapone they produced female-biased offspring sex ratios. These stress responses are adaptive because females constrained to breeding with low-quality males can substantially increase their fitness by overproducing sons. Changes in maternal corticosterone levels during stressful situations, such as the quality of a breeding partner, may provide an endocrine mechanism that can be exploited for strategic sex allocation.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Collections
Source
Functional Ecology
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
License Rights
Restricted until
2037-12-31
Downloads
File
Description