Meeting Abstract
Considering the magnitude of global change, understanding the mechanisms involved in how organisms cope with this phenomenon is urgent. Species and individuals in highly xeric and unpredictable environments could show a variety of strategies to handle the predictable and variable conditions imposed by climate change. Rufous-collared sparrows (Zonotrichia capensis) living in the fertile agricultural valleys in the Atacama Desert, and in the semiarid Fray Jorge National Park in the north of Chile offer a particularly interesting group in which to examine the relation between feather quality and stress levels. Although we did not find differences in baseline or stress-induced levels of corticosterone between both localities during the molting period, preliminary results show that feather’s quality is negatively affected by baseline levels of corticosterone but not by stress-induced levels. However, this effect is weaker in the desert locality where birds experience almost complete aseasonality, unlimited food supply and water and the molt period overlaps largely with breeding stages. These findings could suggest that the effect of corticosterone on feather quality could depend on the energetic challenges that individuals experience more than the absolute corticosterone levels.
