Parental Alarm Calls of the White-Crowned Sparrow Fail to Stimulate Corticosterone Production in Nest-Bound Offspring

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Alarm calling by parents is widespread among animals and has strong implications for parent and offspring fitness, yet it is virtually unknown whether parental alarm calls can initiate a corticosterone response in offspring. We investigated whether parental alarm calls of the whitecrowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, activated the corticosterone response of their nest-bound young, as such a response might prepare older nestlings for premature fledging and increase their survival when contacted by a predator at the nest. We conducted an experiment in which nestlings were either exposed to parent alarm calls (treatment) or experienced a period without parental alarm calls (control) immediately prior to blood sampling. We then sampled nestlings to measure corticosterone levels within 4 min of first contact (baseline corticosterone) and 60 min later (handling-induced corticosterone). Young nestlings (i.e. 3– 4 d post-hatch) did not exhibit a corticosterone response to parental alarm calls or to handling, as mean corticosterone levels were similar in the control and treatment groups for both baseline and 60-min postbaseline samples. Against our predictions, there was no difference in mean levels of baseline corticosterone between control and treatment groups in older nestlings (i.e. 7)8 d post-hatch) that were capable of surviving out of the nest. However, we did find a significant increase in mean levels of corticosterone after handling in both groups, which indicated that older nestlings were able to mount a functional corticosterone response when confronted with a potential predator. Why older nestlings did not initiate a corticosterone response after exposure to parental alarm calls is unclear but may have occurred because the costs of mounting such a response outweighed the benefits, perhaps because of growth or developmental costs.