Tom’s first PhD paper is accepted in PBZ!

Tom’s first PhD paper is accepted in PBZ!

Sarraude T, Hsu BY, Groothuis AGG, Ruuskanen S. Manipulation of prenatal thyroid hormones does not affect growth or physiology in nestling pied flycatchers. 

What is already known

Maternal hormones are a means for mothers to adapt their offspring to expected environmental conditions. Thyroid hormones are key metabolic hormones in vertebrates, involved in embryonic development, growth, thermoregulation and reproduction but hardly studied as maternal effects. Studies on maternal THs have so far given contrasting results that could be attributed to species or context differences.

What this study adds

We found that elevated yolk thyroid hormones did not affect growth, contradicting results from a previous study in a closely related species. This suggests that maternal THs may have context-dependent effects.