Exploring relationships between cardiovascular activity and parental care behavior in nesting smallmouth bass: A field study using heart rate biologgers

Publication date: Available online 18 April 2019Source: Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative PhysiologyAuthor(s): Tanya S. Prystay, Michael J. Lawrence, Aaron J. Zolderdo, Jacob W. Brownscombe, Robert de Bruijn, Erika J. Eliason, Steven J. CookeAbstractResearch in a variety of vertebrate taxa has found that cardiac function is a major limiting factor in the ability of animals to cope with physiological challenges, and thus is suggested to play an important role in mediating fitness-related behaviors in the wild. Yet, there remains a paucity of empirical assessments of the relationships between physiological performance and biological fitness in wild animals, partially due to challenges in measuring these metrics remotely. Using male smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) as a model, we tested for relationships between cardiac performance (measured using heart rate biologgers) and fitness-related behaviors (assessed using videography and snorkeler observations) in the wild during the parental care period. Our results showed that heart rates were not significantly related to any measured parental care behaviors (e.g., nest tending) except for individual aggression level. After accounting for the effect of water temperature on heart rate, we found within-individual heart rate differed between days and also differed between nights. There was, however, evidence of diel variation in heart rate, where heart rate was higher during the day than at ni...
Source: Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular and Integrative Physiology - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research