Manipulating glucocorticoids in wild animals: basic and applied perspectives

Sopinka, Natalie; Patterson, Lucy D.; Redfern, Julia C.; Pleizier, Naomi K.; Belanger, Cassia B.; Midwood, Jon D.; Crossin, Glenn T.; Cooke, Steven J.

doi:10.1093/conphys/cov031

Cited by 85 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 143 publications

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“…In addition to these observational methods to measure glucocorticoids, experimental studies also use different ways (e.g., hormone implants) to manipulate individual GCs (Sopinka et al., 2015). Experimental studies are extremely important given the bi‐directional relationship between hormones and behavior.…”

Section: Quantifying the Vertebrate Neuroendocrine Stress Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between glucocorticoids and sociality across a continuum of vertebrate social behavior

Raulo

Dantzer

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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The causes and consequences of individual differences in animal behavior and stress physiology are increasingly studied in wild animals, yet the possibility that stress physiology underlies individual variation in social behavior has received less attention. In this review, we bring together these study areas and focus on understanding how the activity of the vertebrate neuroendocrine stress axis (HPA‐axis) may underlie individual differences in social behavior in wild animals. We first describe a continuum of vertebrate social behaviors spanning from initial social tendencies (proactive behavior) to social behavior occurring in reproductive contexts (parental care, sexual pair‐bonding) and lastly to social behavior occurring in nonreproductive contexts (nonsexual bonding, group‐level cooperation). We then perform a qualitative review of existing literature to address the correlative and causal association between measures of HPA‐axis activity (glucocorticoid levels or GCs) and each of these types of social behavior. As expected, elevated HPA‐axis activity can inhibit social behavior associated with initial social tendencies (approaching conspecifics) and reproduction. However, elevated HPA‐axis activity may also enhance more elaborate social behavior outside of reproductive contexts, such as alloparental care behavior. In addition, the effect of GCs on social behavior can depend upon the sociality of the stressor (cause of increase in GCs) and the severity of stress (extent of increase in GCs). Our review shows that the while the associations between stress responses and sociality are diverse, the role of HPA‐axis activity behind social behavior may shift toward more facilitating and less inhibiting in more social species, providing insight into how stress physiology and social systems may co‐evolve.

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Section: Quantifying the Vertebrate Neuroendocrine Stress Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between glucocorticoids and sociality across a continuum of vertebrate social behavior

Raulo

Dantzer

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Here, we used an experimental approach, comparing oxidative status, growth and survival among a control group, a sham group and a group that received an intracoelomic injection of cortisol. The protocol we used consisted of implanting a cortisol-bearing vehicle to transiently elevate cortisol levels, an approach commonly used in fish (Gamperl et al, 1994;Sopinka et al, 2015). Though a single (transient) exogenous manipulation of cortisol is a common method for studying 'stress', it fails to fully emulate a stress response per se in that it does not include the process of the organism perceiving a stressor and the associated neuroendocrine cascade .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term and long-term effects of transient exogenous cortisol manipulation on oxidative stress in juvenile brown trout

Birnie‐Gauvin

Peiman

Larsen

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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In the wild, animals are exposed to a growing number of stressors with increasing frequency and intensity, as a result of human activities and human-induced environmental change. To fully understand how wild organisms are affected by stressors, it is crucial to understand the physiology that underlies an organism's response to a stressor. Prolonged levels of elevated glucocorticoids are associated with a state of chronic stress and decreased fitness. Exogenous glucocorticoid manipulation reduces an individual's ability to forage, avoid predators and grow, thereby limiting the resources available for physiological functions like defence against oxidative stress. Using brown trout (Salmo trutta), we evaluated the short-term (2 weeks) and long-term (4 months over winter) effects of exogenous cortisol manipulations (versus relevant shams and controls) on the oxidative status of wild juveniles. Cortisol caused an increase in glutathione over a 2 week period and appeared to reduce glutathione over winter. Cortisol treatment did not affect oxidative stress levels or low molecular weight antioxidants. Cortisol caused a significant decrease in growth rates but did not affect predation risk. Over-winter survival in the stream was associated with low levels of oxidative stress and glutathione. Thus, oxidative stress may be a mechanism by which elevated cortisol causes negative physiological effects.

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“…There is increasing interest in experimentally manipulating GCs in wild animals (Sopinka et al, 2015;Crossin et al, 2016) to simulate different natural and anthropogenic stressors. To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to directly compare and contrast the consequences of a natural challenge (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the consequences of these manipulations were not consistent with respect to partial migration, they did result in similar levels of mortality. Given the potential to use GC manipulations to understand how animals respond to natural and anthropogenic stressors (Sopinka et al, 2015), including novel ones, and explore difficult-to-study phenomena like carry-over effects (O'Connor et al, 2014), we submit that more studies of this nature are warranted. We also encourage future studies that simultaneously manipulate food intake and cortisol (sensu Small et al, 2006) on fish with different levels of initial energy density and nutritional status to try to understand the relative roles of different mechanisms on the responses of wild fish to stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Through analysis of tissue samples intended to characterize baseline or stress-induced GC levels (see Dantzer et al, 2014) to various GC manipulation studies (reviewed in Sopinka et al, 2015;Crossin et al, 2016), researchers have started to elucidate what is now termed 'the ecology of stress' (Boonstra, 2013a). Yet, many challenges remain, as studies often use GC manipulations to simulate semi-chronic or chronic stressors that may not be ecologically relevant (Crossin et al, 2016;Sopinka et al, 2015). Natural experiments, where natural processes are re-created directly in the field, avoid this type of issue (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stress and food deprivation: linking physiological state to migration success in a teleost fish

Midwood

Larsen

Aarestrup

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Food deprivation is a naturally occurring stressor that is thought to influence the ultimate life-history strategy of individuals. Little is known about how food deprivation interacts with other stressors to influence migration success. European populations of brown trout (Salmo trutta) exhibit partial migration, whereby a portion of the population smoltifies and migrates to the ocean, and the rest remain in their natal stream. This distinct, natural dichotomy of life-history strategies provides an excellent opportunity to explore the roles of energetic state (as affected by food deprivation) and activation of the glucocorticoid stress response in determining life-history strategy and survival of a migratory species. Using an experimental approach, the relative influences of short-term food deprivation and experimental cortisol elevation (i.e. intra-coelomic injection of cortisol suspended in cocoa butter) on migratory status, survival and growth of juvenile brown trout relative to a control were evaluated. Fewer fish migrated in both the food deprivation and cortisol treatments; however, migration of fish in cortisol and control treatments occurred at the same time while that of fish in the food deprivation treatment was delayed for approximately 1 week. A significantly greater proportion of trout in the food deprivation treatment remained in their natal stream, but unlike the cortisol treatment, there were no long-term negative effects of food deprivation on growth, relative to the control. Overall survival rates were comparable between the food deprivation and control treatments, but significantly lower for fish in the cortisol treatment. Food availability and individual energetic state appear to dictate the future life-history strategy (migrate or remain resident) of juvenile salmonids while experimental elevation of the stress hormone cortisol causes impaired growth and reduced survival of both resident and migratory individuals.

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Manipulating glucocorticoids in wild animals: basic and applied perspectives

Cited by 85 publications

References 143 publications

Associations between glucocorticoids and sociality across a continuum of vertebrate social behavior

Associations between glucocorticoids and sociality across a continuum of vertebrate social behavior

Short-term and long-term effects of transient exogenous cortisol manipulation on oxidative stress in juvenile brown trout

Stress and food deprivation: linking physiological state to migration success in a teleost fish

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