Evaluating habitat quality of vertebrates using conservation physiology tools

Homyack, Jessica A.

doi:10.1071/wr08093

Cited by 87 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Since stress in wildlife can be an indicator of poor habitat quality, increased energy expenditure, and decreased health status (e.g. Sapolsky, 1996;Marra & Holberton, 1998;Wingfield & Ramenofsky, 1999;Sapolsky, Romero & Munck, 2000;Homan, Reed & Romero, 2003;Pride, 2005c;Landys, Ramenofsky & Wingfield, 2006;Homyack, 2010), and because animal populations in some fragmented habitats exhibit chronically higher stress hormone levels compared with those residing in intact forest (Chapman et al, 2006;Mart ınez-Mota et al, 2007;Rangel-Negr ın et al, 2009;Irwin et al, 2010;Johnstone, Lill & Reina, 2012), measuring GC levels is an important conservation consideration with respect to a population's long-term viability in a disturbed habitat (Romero, 2004). L. catta populations are now almost exclusively restricted to isolated forest fragments Bodin et al, 2006;Goodman et al, 2006;Gould & Andrianomena, 2015;Gould & Sauther, 2016;LaFleur et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crowding as a primary source of stress in an endangered fragment‐dwelling strepsirrhine primate

Gabriel

Gould

Cook

2017

Animal Conservation

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Nutritional and social challenges arising from habitat fragmentation can be significant sources of stress for animals. If prolonged, such stressors can pose a threat to the longevity of a species within a fragmented landscape. While each may elicit a physiological response, the coupled and often additive nature of these stressors can make it difficult to determine their relative impact on an individual or population. We measured fecal glucocorticoids (fGC) in two populations of Lemur catta, an endangered strepsirrhine primate, inhabiting forest fragments that vary markedly in resource structure and population density. We also examined the relative importance of behavioral variables indicative of feeding environment, intergroup territoriality, and intragroup social interactions in predicting fGC levels in these populations. Lemur catta living with ample food resources but at high population density exhibited higher fGC concentrations throughout the study period, independent of sex or reproductive state. At both sites, fGC levels reflected consistent seasonal variation, with lowest levels occurring during the resource-rich pre-mating period. Foraging effort was positively associated with fGC levels at each site, yet the population exhibiting the highest foraging effort had consistently lower levels of fGC. Intergroup territoriality was a positive predictor and intragroup agonism a negative predictor of fGC levels; however, trends in these variables were inconsistent when examining the two sites separately. Within-site group differences highlighted the additive nature of nutritional and social stressors in predicting fGC levels. Our results suggest that the intense or unpredictable impact of crowding and, correspondingly, heightened intergroup resource defense may be an important consideration when addressing long-term conservation initiatives for fragmentdwelling L. catta.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crowding as a primary source of stress in an endangered fragment‐dwelling strepsirrhine primate

Gabriel

Gould

Cook

2017

Animal Conservation

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“…There has been a reiterated call (e.g., Carey 2005, Stevenson 2006, Homyack 2010, Ellis et al 2012 to perform more integrated research in the field of conservation physiology. By simultaneously measuring glucocorticoid excretion, activity, and energy budgets, the present experiments contribute to bridging this gap.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disturbance of wildlife by outdoor winter recreation: allostatic stress response and altered activity–energy budgets

Arlettaz

Nusslé

Baltić

et al. 2015

Ecological Applications

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Abstract. Anthropogenic disturbance of wildlife is of growing conservation concern, but we lack comprehensive approaches of its multiple negative effects. We investigated several effects of disturbance by winter outdoor sports on free-ranging alpine Black Grouse by simultaneously measuring their physiological and behavioral responses. We experimentally flushed radio-tagged Black Grouse from their snow burrows, once a day, during several successive days, and quantified their stress hormone levels (corticosterone metabolites in feces [FCM] collected from individual snow burrows). We also measured feeding time allocation (activity budgets reconstructed from radio-emitted signals) in response to anthropogenic disturbance. Finally, we estimated the related extra energy expenditure that may be incurred: based on activity budgets, energy expenditure was modeled from measures of metabolism obtained from captive birds subjected to different ambient temperatures. The pattern of FCM excretion indicated the existence of a funneling effect as predicted by the allostatic theory of stress: initial stress hormone concentrations showed a wide inter-individual variation, which decreased during experimental flushing. Individuals with low initial pre-flushing FCM values augmented their concentration, while individuals with high initial FCM values lowered it. Experimental disturbance resulted in an extension of feeding duration during the following evening foraging bout, confirming the prediction that Black Grouse must compensate for the extra energy expenditure elicited by human disturbance. Birds with low initial baseline FCM concentrations were those that spent more time foraging. These FCM excretion and foraging patterns suggest that birds with high initial FCM concentrations might have been experiencing a situation of allostatic overload. The energetic model provides quantitative estimates of extra energy expenditure. A longer exposure to ambient temperatures outside the shelter of snow burrows, following disturbance, could increase the daily energy expenditure by .10%, depending principally on ambient temperature and duration of exposure. This study confirms the predictions of allostatic theory and, to the best of our knowledge, constitutes the first demonstration of a funneling effect. It further establishes that winter recreation activities incur costly allostatic behavioral and energetic adjustments, which call for the creation of winter refuge areas together with the implementation of visitor-steering measures for sensitive wildlife.

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“…An additional challenge for urban birds may be that any new vegetation planted by people is usually unlikely to resemble pre-settlement habitat (Cook et al 2013;Thomson et al 2003). Because the measuring of habitat quality in a direct way is often not feasible, the evaluation of individual condition offers an alternative method to assess habitat quality (Homyack 2010;Ellis et al 2012). Body condition indices have been used to evaluate impacts of stressors and disturbances, assessing habitat fragmentation or to provide insights into the nutritional status of animals in different habitat types Bańbura et al 2013;Milenkaya et al 2013;Kaliński et al 2014;Minias 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial variation in haemoglobin concentration of nestling Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus): a long-term perspective

et al. 2016

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An understanding of the influences of anthropogenic disturbance and variation in habitat quality on organism condition and breeding success may improve future management and conservation decisions. Some authors consider haemoglobin concentration to be a simple biochemical indicator of bird condition. The main goal of this paper is to examine if the level of haemoglobin displays any consistent pattern of variation across habitats differing in quality. We present results concerning longterm variation in haemoglobin concentration in the blood of about 14-day-old nestling Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) in central Poland in an 11-year period (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013), in two landscapes (an urban parkland and a deciduous forest). The most important findings of the study are: (1) the concentration of haemoglobin of the nestlings from the same brood tended to be consistently similar, with most variation occurring between broods, (2) mean levels of haemoglobin varied between years, and were correlated with caterpillar abundance peaks in the forest study site, (3) mean haemoglobin concentration was significantly higher in the forest area than in the parkland area, (4) haemoglobin levels were positively correlated with breeding and fledging success. We confirmed that haemoglobin concentration displays a spatio-temporal pattern and that the level of haemoglobin is a reliable condition and habitat quality indicator in nestling Blue Tits in the study populations. Although, strictly speaking, the analysed differences are between two particular sites, we think that they reflect differences between urban and non-urban habitats.

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Evaluating habitat quality of vertebrates using conservation physiology tools

Cited by 87 publications

References 88 publications

Crowding as a primary source of stress in an endangered fragment‐dwelling strepsirrhine primate

Crowding as a primary source of stress in an endangered fragment‐dwelling strepsirrhine primate

Disturbance of wildlife by outdoor winter recreation: allostatic stress response and altered activity–energy budgets

Spatial variation in haemoglobin concentration of nestling Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus): a long-term perspective

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