Antioxidant Enzyme Activities Vary with Predation Risk and Environmental Conditions in Free-Living Passerine Birds

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology : PBZ
Chiara MorosinottoErkki Korpimäki

Abstract

Prolonged physiological stress response may lead to an excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ultimately to oxidative stress and severe fitness costs. We investigated whether natural variation in predation risk, induced by pygmy owls (Glaucidium passerinum), modifies the oxidative status of two free-living food-supplemented passerine bird species-the great tit (Parus major) and the willow tit (Poecile montanus)-in March 2012 and 2013. Predation risk significantly affected antioxidant enzyme activities of willow tits. Antioxidant enzyme activities (principal component factor 2 [PC2] representing glutathione-S-transferase and superoxide dismutase activities) were higher in high predation risk areas in 2013 than in low predation risk areas in the same year. Higher enzyme activities may suggest higher ROS production in birds living under high predation risk. In addition, antioxidant enzyme activities (PC2) were also higher in high predation risk areas in 2013 than in high predation risk areas in the previous year, 2012. This may represent variation in the risk represented by pygmy owls, which is probably inversely related to the natural fluctuations in the densities of their main prey, voles. In willow tits, PC1 ...Continue Reading

Citations

Sep 13, 2019·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Clara Cooper-MullinScott R McWilliams
Jun 15, 2020·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Simone MessinaDavid Costantini

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