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Pérez-Ortega B, Hendry AP. A meta-analysis of human disturbance effects on glucocorticoid hormones in free-ranging wild vertebrates. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1459-1471. [PMID: 37095625 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 04/03/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
Free-ranging wild vertebrates need to cope with natural and anthropogenic stressors that cause short and/or long-term behavioural and physiological responses. In areas of high human disturbance, the use of glucocorticoid (GC) hormones as biomarkers to measure stress responses is an increasingly common tool for understanding how animals cope with human disturbance. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate how human disturbances such as habitat conversion, habitat degradation, and ecotourism influence baseline GC hormones of free-ranging wild vertebrates, and we further test the role of protected areas in reducing the impact of such disturbances on these hormones. A total of 58 studies met the inclusion criteria, providing 152 data points for comparing levels of GC hormones under disturbed and undisturbed conditions. The overall effect size suggests that human disturbance does not cause a consistent increase in levels of GC hormones (Hedges' g = 0.307, 95% CI = -0.062 to 0.677). However, when the data were analysed by disturbance type, living in unprotected areas or in areas with habitat conversion were found to increase GC hormone levels compared to living in protected or undisturbed areas. By contrast, we found no evidence that ecotourism or habitat degradation generates a consistent increase in baseline GC hormone levels. Among taxonomic groups, mammals appeared more sensitive to human disturbance than birds. We advocate the use of GC hormones for inferring major human-caused contributors to the stress levels of free-ranging wild vertebrates - although such information needs to be combined with other measures of stress and interpreted in the context of an organism's life history, behaviour, and history of interactions with human disturbance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Betzi Pérez-Ortega
- McGill University, Redpath Museum and Department of Biology, 859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 0C4, Canada
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PO Box 0843-03092, Panama, Republic of Panama
| | - Andrew P Hendry
- McGill University, Redpath Museum and Department of Biology, 859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 0C4, Canada
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Kok ACM, Berkhout BW, Carlson NV, Evans NP, Khan N, Potvin DA, Radford AN, Sebire M, Shafiei Sabet S, Shannon G, Wascher CAF. How chronic anthropogenic noise can affect wildlife communities. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1130075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is a major pollutant in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Since the industrial revolution, human activities have become increasingly noisy, leading to both acute and chronic disturbance of a wide variety of animals. Chronic noise exposure can affect animals over their lifespan, leading to changes in species interactions and likely altering communities. However, the community-level impacts of chronic noise are not well-understood, which impairs our ability for effective mitigation. In this review, we address the effects of chronic noise exposure on communities and explore possible mechanisms underlying these effects. The limited studies on this topic suggest that noise can affect communities by changing the behavior and/or physiology of species in a community, which results in direct or knock-on consequences for other species in the ecosystem. Major knowledge gaps remain due to the logistically complex and financially expensive nature of the long-term studies needed to address these questions. By identifying these gaps and suggesting approaches to answer them, we provide a road map toward mitigating the effects of a noisy world.
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Newediuk L, Bath DR. Meta-analysis reveals between-population differences affect the link between glucocorticoids and population health. CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 11:coad005. [PMID: 36845329 PMCID: PMC9945071 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coad005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Glucocorticoids are a popular tool for monitoring health of animal populations because they can increase with environmental stressors and can indicate chronic stress. However, individual responses to stressors create variation in the glucocorticoid-fitness relationship within populations. The inconsistency in this relationship calls into question the widespread use of glucocorticoids in conservation. We investigated the sources of variation in the glucocorticoid-fitness relationship by conducting a meta-analysis across a diverse set of species exposed to conservation-relevant stressors. We first quantified the extent to which studies inferred population health from glucocorticoids without first validating the glucocorticoid-fitness relationship in their own populations. We also tested whether population-level information like life history stage, sex and species longevity influenced the relationship between glucocorticoids and fitness. Finally, we tested for a universally consistent relationship between glucocorticoids and fitness across studies. We found more than half of peer-reviewed studies published between 2008 and 2022 inferred population health solely based on glucocorticoid levels. While life history stage explained some variation in the relationship between glucocorticoids and fitness, we found no consistent relationship between them. Much of the variation in the relationship could be the result of idiosyncratic characteristics of declining populations, such as unstable demographic structure, that coincided with large amounts of variation in glucocorticoid production. We suggest that conservation biologists capitalize on this variation in glucocorticoid production by declining populations by using the variance in glucocorticoid production as an early warning for declines in population health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Levi Newediuk
- Corresponding author: Department of Biology, Memorial University, 45 Arctic Avenue, St. John's, Newfoundland A1B 3X9, Canada.
| | - Devon R Bath
- Department of Ocean Sciences, Memorial University, 0 Marine Lab Road, St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5S7, Canada
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Messina S, Edwards DP, Marasco V, Canoine V, Cosset CCP, Tomassi S, Benedick S, Eens M, Costantini D. Glucocorticoids link forest type to local abundance in tropical birds. Funct Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Simone Messina
- Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology Group Department of Biology University of Antwerp Wilrijk Belgium
| | - David P. Edwards
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences University of Sheffield Sheffield UK
| | - Valeria Marasco
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (KLIVV) University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Austria
| | - Virginie Canoine
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology University of Vienna Wien Austria
| | - Cindy C. P. Cosset
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences University of Sheffield Sheffield UK
| | - Suzanne Tomassi
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences University of Sheffield Sheffield UK
| | - Suzan Benedick
- School of Sustainable Agriculture Universiti Malaysia Sabah Kota Kinabalu Malaysia
| | - Marcel Eens
- Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology Group Department of Biology University of Antwerp Wilrijk Belgium
| | - David Costantini
- Unité Physiologie Moléculaire et Adaptation (PhyMA) Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS Paris France
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Edwards KL, Edes AN, Brown JL. Stress, Well-Being and Reproductive Success. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2019; 1200:91-162. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-23633-5_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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Bennett AM, Longhi JN, Chin EH, Burness G, Kerr LR, Murray DL. Acute changes in whole body corticosterone in response to perceived predation risk: A mechanism for anti-predator behavior in anurans? Gen Comp Endocrinol 2016; 229:62-6. [PMID: 26944484 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2016.02.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2015] [Revised: 02/19/2016] [Accepted: 02/29/2016] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Anuran larvae exhibit behavioral and morphological plasticity in response to perceived predation risk, although response type and magnitude varies through ontogeny. Increased baseline corticosterone is related to morphological response to predation risk, whereas the mechanism behind behavioral plasticity remains enigmatic. Since tadpoles alter behavioral responses to risk immediately upon exposure to predator cues, we characterized changes in whole body corticosterone at an acute (<1h post-exposure) timescale. Tadpoles (Lithobates sylvaticus) at Gosner stage (GS) 25 (free-swimming, feeding larvae) increased corticosterone levels to a peak at 10-20min post-exposure to predator cues, paralleling the acute stress response observed among other taxa. Tadpoles reared for 3weeks (mean GS29) with predation risk (caged, fed Aeshnid dragonfly nymph) had lower corticosterone levels at 10-20min post-exposure to dragonfly cues than predator-naïve controls, suggesting habituation, although the magnitude of increase was markedly diminished when compared to younger tadpoles (GS25). These experiments represent the first assessment of tadpole hormonal responses to predation risk at the acute timescale. Further research is required to establish causality between hormonal responses and behavioral changes, and to examine how and why responsiveness changes over ontogeny and with chronic exposure to risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M Bennett
- Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada.
| | - Jessica N Longhi
- Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada
| | - Eunice H Chin
- Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada
| | - Gary Burness
- Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada; Biology Department, Trent University, Life & Health Science Building, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada
| | - Leslie R Kerr
- Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada; Biology Department, Trent University, Life & Health Science Building, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada
| | - Dennis L Murray
- Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, 1600 West Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada; Biology Department, Trent University, Life & Health Science Building, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8, Canada
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Morris DL, Faaborg J, Washburn BE, Millspaugh JJ. Predator-induced renesting and reproductive effort in indigo buntings: more work for less pay? CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2015; 3:cou063. [PMID: 27293684 PMCID: PMC4778466 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/cou063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2014] [Revised: 12/15/2014] [Accepted: 12/21/2014] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Renesting after nest predation is ultimately an adaptive response to increase productivity in birds. However, renesting also increases reproductive effort to replace lost clutches. We investigated the consequences of this increased reproductive effort by determining whether renesting in female indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) is associated with a decline in body condition (size-corrected mass) and haematocrit and an increase in stress hormones and whether renesting or maternal body condition is associated with a decline in productivity (clutch size, nestling body condition). Next, because a consequence of multiple renesting attempts is a prolonged breeding season and later timing, we predicted that a population of post-breeding females and juveniles would have lower body condition in fragmented forest than in contiguous forest owing to higher nest predation and frequency of renesting. Both forest types were settled by females of similar condition. Nest survival was lower in fragmented forest, where a higher proportion of females failed their first attempt and the breeding season was 2 weeks longer. Compared with females on their first attempt, renesting females had lower body condition and haematocrit and higher corticosterone concentrations. Lower maternal body condition was associated with higher concentrations of corticosterone, lower nestling body condition and smaller clutches. Clutch size was lower in renests and in fragmented forest. Nestling condition was lower in renests but did not vary greatly with forest type. Despite a prolonged breeding season in the fragmented forest, post-breeding females and hatch-year birds were in similar condition in both forest types. Our results suggest that the indirect effects of nest predation on maternal and offspring condition pose additional individual-level costs that have not been considered in the context of fragmentation studies. We discuss how predator-induced renesting could have additional demographic consequences by prolonging the breeding season and prompting seasonal interactions or carry-over effects that could impact populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dana L Morris
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, 110 Tucker Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
- Division of Science, Mathematics and Computer Science, Central Methodist University, 411 Central Methodist Square, Fayette, MO 65248, USA
| | - John Faaborg
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, 110 Tucker Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | - Brian E Washburn
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, University of Missouri, 302 Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
- United States Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, 6100 Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, OH 44870, USA
| | - Joshua J Millspaugh
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, University of Missouri, 302 Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources Building, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
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Vernouillet A, Villard MA, Haché S. ENSO, nest predation risk, food abundance, and male status fail to explain annual variations in the apparent survival rate of a migratory songbird. PLoS One 2014; 9:e113844. [PMID: 25419839 PMCID: PMC4242669 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2014] [Accepted: 10/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Adult mortality can be a major driver of population decline in species whose productivity is relatively low. Yet, little is known about the factors influencing adult survival rates in migratory bird species, nor do we know much about the longer-term effects of habitat disturbance on the fitness of individuals. The Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) is one of the vertebrate species most sensitive to forest management, yet it is still common and widespread. We monitored the fate of 330 colour-banded Ovenbird males in four pairs of 25-ha plots during 9 successive breeding seasons. One plot of each pair was treated through selection harvesting (30-40% basal area removed) during the first winter. We tested the following hypotheses: (1) higher physiological costs in harvested plots as a result of lower food abundance will reduce apparent survival rate (ASR) relative to controls; (2) lower ASR following years with low nest survival and higher probability of renesting; (3) fluctuations in ASR reflecting El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO); and (4) higher ASR in returning males than in recruits (unbanded immigrants) owing to greater site familiarity in the former. We tested the relative importance of these hypotheses, or combinations thereof, by generating 23 models explaining variation in ASR. The year-dependent model received the most support, showing a 41% decrease in ASR from 2007 to 2014. The important year-to-year variation we observed in ASR (Σw(i) = 0.99) was not explained by variation in nest predation risk nor by ENSO. There was also little evidence for an effect of selection harvesting on ASR of Ovenbird males, despite a slight reduction in lifespan relative to males from control plots (2.7 vs 2.9 years). An avenue worth exploring to explain this intriguing pattern would be to determine whether conditions at migratory stopover sites or in the wintering area of our focal population have gradually worsened over the past decade.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marc-André Villard
- Département de biologie, Université de Moncton, Moncton, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Samuel Haché
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
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