Interpreting indices of physiological stress in free-living vertebrates
- 14 March 2012
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Journal of Comparative Physiology B
- Vol. 182 (7), 861-879
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-012-0656-9
Abstract
When vertebrate physiological ecologists use the terms ‘stress’ or ‘physiological stress’, they typically mean the level of hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA-) axis activation. Measurements of stress hormone concentrations (e.g. glucocorticoids in blood, urine or faeces), leukocytes (e.g. the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio or heterophil equivalent), immunofunction (e.g. innate, cell-mediated or humoral immunity measures) and regenerative anaemia (e.g. mean erythrocyte volume and red blood cell distribution width) have all been used to estimate HPA-axis activity in free-living vertebrates. Stress metrics have provided insights into aspects of autecology or population regulation that could not have been easily obtained using other indices of population wellbeing, such as body condition or relative abundance. However, short- and long-term stress (often problematically termed acute and chronic stress, respectively) can interact in unpredictable ways. When animals experience trapping and handling stress before blood, faeces and/or urine is sampled, the interaction of short- and long-term stress can confound interpretation of the data, a fact not always acknowledged in studies of stress in free-living vertebrates. This review examines how stress metrics can be confounded when estimates of HPA-axis activation are collected for free-living vertebrates and outlines some approaches that can be used to help circumvent the influence of potentially confounding factors.Keywords
This publication has 132 references indexed in Scilit:
- Does habitat fragmentation cause stress in the agile antechinus? A haematological approachJournal of Comparative Physiology B, 2011
- Urinary corticosterone metabolite responses to capture, and annual patterns of urinary corticosterone in wild and captive endangered Fijian ground frogs (Platymantis vitiana)Australian Journal of Zoology, 2010
- Variation in stress and innate immunity in the tree lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) across an urban–rural gradientJournal of Comparative Physiology B, 2008
- Effects of forest fragmentation on the physiological stress response of black howler monkeysAnimal Conservation, 2007
- MEASURING HABITAT QUALITY: A REVIEWOrnithological Applications, 2007
- Impacts of varying habitat quality on the physiological stress of spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum)Animal Conservation, 2003
- A Generalized Fecal Glucocorticoid Assay for Use in a Diverse Array of Nondomestic Mammalian and Avian SpeciesGeneral and Comparative Endocrinology, 2000
- Effects of Weather on Corticosterone Responses in Wild Free-Living Passerine BirdsGeneral and Comparative Endocrinology, 2000
- Behavioural patterns associated with faecal cortisol levels in free-ranging female ring-tailed lemurs,Lemur cattaAnimal Behaviour, 1999
- Seasonal changes of the adrenocortical response to stress in birds of the Sonoran desertJournal of Experimental Zoology, 1992