Measuring stress in wildlife: techniques for quantifying glucocorticoids

Sheriff, Michael J.; Dantzer, Ben; Delehanty, Brendan; Palme, Rupert; Boonstra, Rudy

doi:10.1007/s00442-011-1943-y

Cited by 733 publications

(841 citation statements)

References 202 publications

(310 reference statements)

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“…Urinary, fecal, and excreta GCs (Sheriff, Dantzer, Delehanty, Palme, & Boonstra, 2011) as well as feather/hair GCs (Bortolotti, Marchant, Blas, & German, 2008; Lattin, Reed, DesRochers, & Romero, 2011) are thought to reflect a mixture of both baseline and stress‐induced GC levels over a species‐specific period of time and are here called “ integrated GCs ”.…”

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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“…Cortisol is generally referred to as a classical Bstress hormone^ (Morton et al 1995) and has been implemented as the standard stress indicator in animal welfare research (Mormède et al 2007). Measurably increased cortisol concentrations can be observed from about 3-5 min after the onset of the stressor (Sheriff et al 2011) and peak levels are reached within 15-30 min (De Kloet et al 2005). A cortisol-mediated negative feedback loop causes the system to return to baseline activity again after 60-90 min (Sheriff et al 2011, De Kloet et al 2005.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Measurably increased cortisol concentrations can be observed from about 3-5 min after the onset of the stressor (Sheriff et al 2011) and peak levels are reached within 15-30 min (De Kloet et al 2005). A cortisol-mediated negative feedback loop causes the system to return to baseline activity again after 60-90 min (Sheriff et al 2011, De Kloet et al 2005.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortisol response of wild ungulates to trauma situations: hunting is not necessarily the worst stressor

Gentsch

Kjellander

Röken³

2018

Eur J Wildl Res

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Animal welfare concerns are becoming a central issue in wildlife management and conservation. Thus, we investigated stress response of wild ungulates to potentially traumatic situations (shooting injuries, vehicle collisions, entanglement, injuries or diseases) and hunting methods (stalking, battues and hunts with dogs) by means of serum cortisol concentrations from blood collected from killed animals. Cortisol levels in roe deer ranged below and in wild boar above levels for moose, red deer and fallow deer (hence, pooled as a group Bdeer^). Apart from species, cortisol concentration in trauma situations was mainly explained by trauma type and presence of disturbance after the trauma event. Effect of trauma type differed significantly for Bdeer^, with animals caught in fences and suffering vehicle collisions experiencing higher cortisol levels than animals injured by shooting. Differences between hunting methods were observed in the cervids (Bdeer^and roe deer), with stalking leading to lower cortisol levels than hunts with dogs (both groups) and battues (roe deer). Events both before and after the shot, such as duration of pursuit prior to shooting, location of injury, trauma length and presence of disturbance after the shot were relevant for cortisol levels in hunted cervids. Our results indicate that search teams tracking and euthanising wounded animals should behave in a calm way to minimise disturbance. Still, it is important to acknowledge that many situations described in the literature, i.e. reindeer handling, roe deer captures and red deer yarding, seem even more stressful, beside vehicle collisions, than most hunting methods.

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“…The array of available methods has been reviewed elsewhere (e.g., Sheriff et al 2011;Cook 2012), but generally rest on the principle that circulating levels of glucocorticoids can be evaluated through a parameter of adrenocortical activity, such as the glucocorticoid metabolites found in urine or faeces. A technique that shows particular usefulness in wild mammals is measuring glucocorticoid metabolites in faeces -a matrix that can be collected more readily than urine or saliva.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-invasive measurement of adrenocortical activity in a myrmecophageous mammal, the bat-eared fox

et al. 2016

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Measuring physiological stress reactions through the quantification of plasma cortisol often involves physically restraint, which acts as a stressor itself.Here, we present the validation of a non-invasive method for assessing adrenocortical activity as an indicator of stress in the bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis). By conducting an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) challenge, we examined the suitability of three enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) detecting 11,17 dioxoandrostanes (11,17-DOA) as well as faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM) with a 5β-3α-ol-11-one (3α,11oxo-CM), or 11,17,21-trihydroxy-4-ene-20-one structure (cortisol), respectively, for monitoring stress-related physiological responses in male and female bat-eared foxes.Our results suggest that the cortisol EIA seems most suitable for measuring fGCMs in this myrmecophageous mammal. Using the cortisol EIA, we compared fGCM concentrations of three populations of foxes. Only one 1 population experienced a sudden change in social environment and the assay appeared to effectively detect the resulting increase in stress hormone levels. Therefore, the identified EIA is effective at detecting intraspecific variation in fGCM levels, and hence a useful tool to evaluate physiological stress responses in this species.

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Measuring stress in wildlife: techniques for quantifying glucocorticoids

Cited by 733 publications

References 202 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

Cortisol response of wild ungulates to trauma situations: hunting is not necessarily the worst stressor

Non-invasive measurement of adrenocortical activity in a myrmecophageous mammal, the bat-eared fox

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