Corticosterone in feathers is a long-term, integrated measure of avian stress physiology
1. Stress has pervasive consequences for the well-being of animals. Currently, understanding how individuals cope with stressors is typically accomplished via short-term quantification of blood glucocorticoids released after activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. 2. We investigated whether the amount of corticosterone (CORT) deposited in growing feathers provides a long-term, integrated measure of HPA activity […]
Old male mating advantage results from sexual conflict in a butterfly
Accumulating evidence suggests that sexual conflict is all pervasive, although cooperation is evidently needed in sexually reproducing organisms. While male mating success is typically positively associated with resource-holding potential, old male mating success prevails in some organisms despite old males being in greatly reduced condition. We tested whether this counterintuitive pattern is the outcome of […]