In nature, animals often face periods without food caused by seasonal fluctuations and/or prey scarcity. An organism's physiological response to imposed energetic limitations is followed by changes in mitochondrial functioning (adjustment of energy metabolism) and a reduction of non-essential processes. However, this energy-saving strategy can have its costs. In this study, we examined oxidative stress as one of the possible physiological costs of short-term, two-week-long food deprivation on developing amphibian larvae of the crested newts Triturus macedonicus and Triturus ivanbureschi and their hybrids. We investigated whether this exogenous factor additionally affected the oxidative status (fitness-related trait) of hybrid individuals. The fasting treatment led to lower growth and a lower body mass and body condition index of individuals. The results revealed that the antioxidant system (AOS) of food-deprived larvae could not cope in a proper manner with reactive oxygen species production under limited energy availability, leading to higher lipid oxidative damage. The lowest AOS response was observed for H2O2 scavenging parameters (catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and total glutathione), which together with the elevated activity of superoxide dismutase suggested increased H2O2 concentrations. Comparison between parental species and their hybrids showed that hybrid individuals suffered greater oxidative damage (as demonstrated by higher concentrations of lipid peroxides), indicating that they were more susceptible to fasting-induced oxidative stress. Overall, this study illustrates that: (i) an oxidative event is one of the costs amphibian larvae face during short-term periods of fasting, (ii) hybrids are less capable of dealing with this stressful condition, which can lower their chances of survival in a changing environment.
Keywords: Amphibians; Antioxidant system; Fitness; Food deprivation; Hybridization; Larvae; Oxidative stress.
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