Does crime pay? Kleptoparasitic Common terns raise offspring with longer telomeres at the expense of their own

BOUWHUIS SANDRA; BAUCH C; GARCÍA GERMÁN OSCAR; PATERLINI CARLA; VERHULST S; VEDDER O

Conferencia; Diversity in Telomere Dynamics Workshop.; 2016

Intraspecific kleptoparasitism, the theft of resources from conspecifics, is one of the most common types of exploitation between animals, and occurs in most animal taxa. While frequency-dependent benefits of kleptoparasitic behaviour should lead to the evolution of equal fitness between kleptoparasites and their victims, little is known about the exact nature or physiological underpinnings of costs and benefits of kleptoparasitic behaviour. In our long-term individual-based study of a long-lived seabird, the common tern Sterna hirundo, we find that individuals specializing on stealing fish from conspecifics during reproduction have a reduced age-specific telomere length in comparison to individuals that are never observed stealing fish. Offspring raised in nests with a kleptoparasitic parent, however, have longer telomeres and an improved probability of fledging, in comparison to offspring reared in nests with two ?honest? parents. We suggest that kleptoparasitic individuals adopt a different life-history strategy by favouring reproduction over self-maintenance, as revealed by the inter-generational telomere patterns.