Abstract The developmental environment an animal experiences can have a pervasive and sustained effect on phenotype throughout its life. Animals exposed to suboptimal conditions during development can experience physiological trade-offs, leading to seemingly negative phenotypic changes in later life that have been hypothesised to have detrimental effects on fitness. However, few studies have investigated how exposure to suboptimal developmental conditions affects an animal’s reproductive behavior and fitness. Here, we determine if elevated levels of corticosterone (CORT; the dominant avian stress hormone) during development affect fitness via changes in reproductive investment in adult zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ). To do this, we exposed nestling zebra finches to either CORT supplemented or control treatments and assessed their mate selection and reproductive investment as adults, using free choice breeding experiments. We found that breeding pairs of birds from matched developmental treatments (CORT or control) had a shorter latency to lay clutches compared to pairs with mismatched developmental treatments. We found no indication that clutch size or egg mass were affected by developmental treatment. Also, we found no evidence that birds choose mates to match their own developmental treatment. Our results demonstrate that developmental experience may affect reproductive investment through changes to reproductive timing and add to the literature suggesting that pairs with similar developmental backgrounds can coordinate their reproduction more effectively. Significance statement Developmental stress may reduce the fitness of a breeding pair as a result of its detrimental effect on phenotype and performance. Alternatively, individuals could use indicators of developmental stress to influence mate choice in order to compensate for a poor start to life. Previous studies suggest that birds do assortatively mate by developmental environment, but this has not been tested in a free choice mating context. Using a free choice breeding experiment, we show that pairs of breeding birds lay eggs faster when they have matching developmental environments, regardless of the quality of their developmental environment. This evidence suggests that assortatively mated pairs can potentially offset a bad start to life and maintain fitness in spite of the deleterious effects of developmental stress.

中文翻译：

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来自匹配发育环境的鸟类繁殖速度更快

摘要 动物经历的发育环境可以对其一生中的表型产生普遍和持续的影响。在发育过程中暴露于次优条件下的动物可能会经历生理上的权衡，导致以后生活中看似负面的表型变化，这些变化被假设对健康产生不利影响。然而，很少有研究调查暴露于次优发育条件下如何影响动物的生殖行为和健康。在这里，我们确定发育过程中皮质酮（CORT；主要的鸟类应激激素）水平升高是否会通过成年斑胸草雀（Taeniopygia guttata）生殖投资的变化影响健康。去做这个，我们将雏斑胸草雀暴露于 CORT 补充治疗或对照治疗，并使用自由选择育种实验评估了它们成年后的配偶选择和繁殖投资。我们发现，与不匹配的发育处理的配对相比，使用匹配的发育处理（CORT 或对照）繁殖的成对的鸡产蛋延迟更短。我们没有发现任何迹象表明离合器大小或鸡蛋质量受到发育处理的影响。此外，我们没有发现证据表明鸟类会选择配偶来匹配它们自己的发育情况。我们的研究结果表明，发育经历可能会通过改变生殖时间来影响生殖投资，并增加了文献表明具有相似发育背景的配对可以更有效地协调他们的繁殖。重要性声明 发育压力可能会降低繁殖对的适应性，因为它对表型和性能产生不利影响。或者，个人可以使用发育压力指标来影响配偶选择，以弥补生命的糟糕开端。先前的研究表明，鸟类确实会根据发育环境进行分类交配，但这还没有在自由选择交配的环境中进行过测试。使用自由选择繁殖实验，我们表明，无论其发育环境的质量如何，当成对的繁殖鸟类具有匹配的发育环境时，它们的产卵速度都会更快。这一证据表明，尽管有发育压力的有害影响，但各种配对的配对可能会抵消生命的糟糕开端并保持健康。