Open Access
Issue
Published:
06 July 2017
Life-history dependent relationships between plasma alkaline phosphatase activity and body condition in male Eurasian Tree Sparrows
(
)
Download citation
434
Views
27
Downloads
4
Crossref
N/A
WoS
4
Scopus
0
CSCD
In temperate-breeding birds, individuals must adjust their physiological states from one life-history stage to another in response to changing conditions to maximize ecological fitness. Previous evidences have shown that body mass, size-corrected mass (SCM), and hematocrit (Hct) could be used as estimates of the energetic state of individuals to illustrate life-history trade-offs and individual quality in field physiology. Plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) plays critical roles in regulating the metabolism of energy but very limited information is known on its link with body mass or Hct.
We determined the changes of plasma ALP levels in both early breeding and wintering stages of male Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus), and examined the relationships between ALP and body mass, SCM, and Hct of the birds.
Our study showed that (1) in male Eurasian Tree Sparrows, body mass did not vary with life-history stage but plasma ALP activity significantly increased in the wintering stage compared to the breeding stage; (2) ALP activity was not correlated with individual body mass but was positively correlated with individual SCM and Hct. Such positive correlations, however, only occurred in the wintering but not in the breeding stages.
Our results suggest that plasma ALP activities in free-living birds can be used as one of the indicators of body condition or nutritional status for analyzing individual variation in the wintering but not in the breeding stages. The life-history dependent relationships between plasma ALP activity and body condition may contribute to our better understanding of the trade-off between individual survival and reproduction in free-living animals.
menu
Life-history dependent relationships between plasma alkaline phosphatase activity and body condition in male Eurasian Tree Sparrows
(
)
Abstract
In temperate-breeding birds, individuals must adjust their physiological states from one life-history stage to another in response to changing conditions to maximize ecological fitness. Previous evidences have shown that body mass, size-corrected mass (SCM), and hematocrit (Hct) could be used as estimates of the energetic state of individuals to illustrate life-history trade-offs and individual quality in field physiology. Plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) plays critical roles in regulating the metabolism of energy but very limited information is known on its link with body mass or Hct.
We determined the changes of plasma ALP levels in both early breeding and wintering stages of male Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus), and examined the relationships between ALP and body mass, SCM, and Hct of the birds.
Our study showed that (1) in male Eurasian Tree Sparrows, body mass did not vary with life-history stage but plasma ALP activity significantly increased in the wintering stage compared to the breeding stage; (2) ALP activity was not correlated with individual body mass but was positively correlated with individual SCM and Hct. Such positive correlations, however, only occurred in the wintering but not in the breeding stages.
Our results suggest that plasma ALP activities in free-living birds can be used as one of the indicators of body condition or nutritional status for analyzing individual variation in the wintering but not in the breeding stages. The life-history dependent relationships between plasma ALP activity and body condition may contribute to our better understanding of the trade-off between individual survival and reproduction in free-living animals.
References(40)
Bryant DM. Energy expenditure and body mass changes as measures of reproductive costs in birds. Funct Ecol. 1988;2:23-4.
Cam E, Aubry LM, Authier M. The conundrum of heterogeneities in life history studies. Trends Ecol Evol. 2016;31:872-86.
Cox RM, Parker EU, Cheney DM, Liebl AL, Martin LB, Calsbeek R. Experimental evidence for physiological costs underlying the trade-off between reproduction and survival. Funct Ecol. 2010;24:1262-9.
Crates RA, Firth JA, Farine DR, Garroway CJ, Kidd LR, Aplin LM, Radersma R, Milligan ND, Voelkl B, Culina A, Verhelst BL, Hinde CA, Sheldon BC. Individual variation in winter supplementary food consumption and its consequences for reproduction in wild birds. J Avian Biol. 2016;47:678-89.
Cuthill IC, Maddocks SA, Weall CV, Jones EKM. Body mass regulation in response to changes in feeding predictability and overnight energy expenditure. Behav Ecol. 2000;11:189-95.
Dobado-Berrios PM, Ferrer M. Age-related changes of plasma alkaline phosphatase and inorganic phosphorus, and late ossification of the cranial roof in the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti C.L. Brehm, 1861). Physiol Zool. 1997;70:421-7.
Fair J, Whitaker S, Pearson B. Sources of variation in haematocrit in birds. Ibis. 2007;149:535-52.
García-Navas V, Arroyo L, José Sanz J. Nestbox use and reproductive parameters of tree sparrows Passer montanus: are they affected by the presence of old nests? Acta Ornithol. 2008;43:32-42.
Hill EF, Murray HC. Seasonal variation in diagnostic enzymes and biochemical constituents of captive northern bobwhites and passerines. Comp Biochem Physiol B. 1987;87:933-40.
Iqbal J. An enzyme immobilized microassay in capillary electrophoresis for characterization and inhibition studies of alkaline phosphatases. Anal Biochem. 2011;414:226-31.
Jakob EM, Marshall SD, Uetz GW. Estimating fitness: a comparison of body condition indices. Oikos. 1996;77:61-7.
Krause JS, Németh Z, Pérez JH, Chmura HE, Ramenofsky M, Wingfield JC. Annual Hct profiles in two subspecies of white-crowned sparrow: a migrant and a resident comparison. Physiol Biochem Zool. 2016;89:51-60.
Lallès JP. Intestinal alkaline phosphatase: novel functions and protective effects. Nutr Rev. 2014;72:82-94.
Li DM, Wang G, Wingfield JC, Zhang Z, Ding CQ, Lei FM. Seasonal changes in adrenocortical responses to acute stress in Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) on the Tibetan Plateau: comparison with house sparrow (P. domesticus) in North America and with the migratory P. domesticus in Qinghai Province. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2008;158:47-53.
Li DM, Wu JZ, Zhang XR, Ma XF, Wingfield JC, Lei FM, Wang G, Wu YF. Comparison of adrenocortical responses to acute stress in lowland and highland Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus): similar patterns during the breeding, but different during the prebasic molt. J Exp Zool. 2011;315A:512-9.
Li DM, Zhang XR, Li YQ, Hao CY, Zhang J, Wu YF. Stress responses of testosterone and corticosterone-binding globulin in a multi-brooded species, Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus): Does CBG function as a mediator? Horm Behav. 2012;61:582-9.
Martins MJ, Dias PO, Hipólito-Reis C. Rat serum alkaline phosphatase electrophoretic fractions: variations with feeding, starvation and cellulose fibre ingestion. Clin Nutr. 1998;17:279-85.
Merila J, Wiggins DA. Mass loss in breeding blue tits: the role of energetic stress. J Anim Ecol. 1997;66:452-60.
Newton SF. Body condition of a small passerine bird: ultrasonic assessment and significance in overwinter survival. J Zool. 1993;229:561-80.
Pap PL, Vágási CI, Tökölyi J, Czirják GÁ, Barta Z. Variation in haematological indices and immune function during the annual cycle in the great tit Parus major. Ardea. 2015;98:105-12.
Piersma T, Drent J. Phenotypic flexibility and the evolution of organismal design. Trends Ecol Evol. 2003;18:228-33.
Richner H, Oppliger A, Christe P. Effect of an ectoparasite on reproduction in great tits. J Anim Ecol. 1993;62:703-10.
Round PD, Hansson B, Pearson DJ, Kennerley PR, Bensch S. Lost and found: the enigmatic large-billed reed warbler Acrocephalus orinus rediscovered after 139 years. J Avian Biol. 2007;38:133-8.
Seiser PE, Duffy LK, David McGuire A, Roby DD, Golet GH, Litzow MA. Comparison of pigeon guillemot, Cepphus columba, blood parameters from oiled and unoiled areas of Alaska eight years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Mar Pollut Bull. 2000;40:152-64.
Smits JE, Bortolotti GR, Baos R, Jovani R, Tella JL, Hoffmann WE. Disrupted bone metabolism in contaminant-exposed white storks (Ciconia ciconia) in southwestern Spain. Environm Pollut. 2007;145:538-44.
Sun YF, Li M, Song G, Lei FM, Li DM, Wu YF. The role of climate factors in geographic variation in body mass and wing length in a passerine bird. Avian Res. 2017;8:1.
Sun YF, Ren ZP, Wu YF, Lei FM, Dudley R, Li DM. Flying high: limits to flight performance by sparrows on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. J Exp Biol. 2016;219:3642-8.
Tilgar V, Kilgas P, Mägi M, Mänd R. Age-related changes in the activity of bone alkaline phosphatase and its application as a marker of prefledging maturity of nestlings in wild passerines. Auk. 2008;125:456-60.
Tilgar V, Ots I, Mänd R. Bone alkaline phosphatase as a sensitive indicator of skeletal development in birds: a study of the great tit nestlings. Physiol Biochem Zool. 2004;77:530-5.
Viñuela J, Ferrer M. Regulation of growth in red kites and imperial eagles. Wilson Bull. 1997;109:92-101.
Villegas A, Sánchez J, Costillo E, Corbacho C. Blood chemistry and haematocrit of the black vulture (Aegypius monachus). Comp Biochem Physiol A. 2002;132:489-97.
Williams GC. Natural selection, the costs of reproduction, and a refinement of lack's principle. Am Nat. 1966;100:687-90.
Williams TD. Physiological adaptations for breeding in birds. Princeton: Princeton University Press; 2012.
Wingfield JC. Organization of vertebrate annual cycles: implications for control mechanisms. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B. 2008;363:425-41.
Wojczulanis-Jakubas K, Jakubas D, Chastel O, Kulaszewicz I. A big storm in a small body: seasonal changes in body mass, hormone concentrations and leukocyte profile in the little auk (Alle alle). Polar Biol. 2015;38:1203-12.
Zhang SP, Lei FM, Liu SL, Li DM, Chen C, Wang PZ. Variation in baseline corticosterone levels of Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) populations along an urban gradient in Beijing, China. J Ornithol. 2011;152:801-6.
Zhao YL, Li M, Sun YF, Wei W, Kou GQ, Guo LL, Xing DN, Wu YF, Li DM, Zhao BH. Life-history dependent relationships between body condition and immunity, between immunity indices in male Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Comp Biochem Physiol A. 2017;210:7-13.
Zheng WH, Li M, Liu JS, Shao SL, Xu XJ. Seasonal variation of metabolic thermogenesis in Eurasian tree sparrows (Passer montanus) over a latitudinal gradient. Physiol Biochem Zool. 2014;87:704-18.
Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31672292, 31372201), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (C2017205059).
Rights and permissions
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
FEEDBACK 
TOP