Prenatal Cues of Predation Risk Modulate the Lasting Effects of Postnatal Predator Exposure in Gull Chicks

Area of Science:

• Animal behavior
• Developmental biology
• Ecology

Background:

• Prenatal environmental cues can influence offspring phenotypes to match expected postnatal conditions.
• Parental alarm calls during incubation affect gull chick antipredator behavior, but integration of prenatal and postnatal information is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how yellow-legged gull chicks integrate prenatal and postnatal predator cues.
• To determine the impact of matched and mismatched predator cue environments on chick development and viability.

Main Methods:

• A match-mismatch experiment manipulating acoustic predator cues during embryonic and nestling periods in yellow-legged gulls.
• Exposure to adult alarm calls vs. colony noise prenatally, and mink vs. rabbit decoys postnatally.
• Assessment of antipredator responses, begging behavior, skeletal size, and genomic damage.

Main Results:

• Embryonic exposure to predator cues altered postnatal antipredator responses (tonic immobility).
• Prenatal alarm call exposure led to faster crouching, but only without postnatal predators.
• Mismatched prenatal and postnatal predator cues resulted in smaller skeletal size and greater genomic damage.

Conclusions:

• The late embryonic stage is critical for shaping phenotypic outcomes based on environmental alignment.
• Gull chicks integrate prenatal and postnatal predator information, with mismatches negatively affecting development.
• Environmental predictability is crucial for successful chick development and viability.