Oxidative Stress and Reproductive Trade-Offs: From Courtship to Parental Care

There has been considerable work to test the role of organismal oxidative stress as a mediator of reproductive trade-offs. Intense research focussed on whether parental effort in offspring rearing results in oxidative stress. Many other studies carried out comparisons between non-reproducing and reproducing individuals in a narrow range of taxa. By contrast, we have a very limited number of studies that tested whether pre-breeding oxidative stress constraints reproductive decisions and quality of parental care (and reproductive success as a consequence). In this chapter, I have examined how the need to manage oxidative stress has possibly influenced the evolution of reproductive strategies, from courtship to parental care. I have also illustrated (1) the impact of oxidative stress on fertility, (2) differences between sexes in the regulation of oxidative status homeostasis, and (3) oxidative benefits and costs of cooperative breeding. Finally, I have highlighted a number of weaknesses in experimental designs that have been used to test the oxidative cost of reproduction hypothesis, calling for novel and more realistic studies.