Physiology as a tool for at‐risk animal recovery planning: An analysis of Canadian recovery strategies with global recommendations

Abstract

Many government organizations use recovery planning to synthesize threats, propose management strategies, and determine recovery criteria for threatened wildlife. Little is known about the extent to which physiological knowledge has been used in recovery planning, despite its potential to offer key biological information that could aid in recovery success. Using recovery strategies for atrisk animal species in Canada as a case study, we analyzed the prevalence, purpose, and type of physiological knowledge being used in recovery planning.We found that 73% of strategies contained mention of physiology and that incorporation of physiology has increased since 2006. Of the various types of physiological tools available, reference to stress, immune, thermal, and bioenergetic metrics appeared most frequently. Physiological information was more likely to be found in the background and threat assessment sections compared to action and future research sections, and less likely to be included in strategies for arthropods and birds compared to other taxonomic groups. By synthesizing our results with previous studies, we provide recommendations to encourage the application of physiological tools in recovery planning

Technical validation and a comparison of two methods to quantify individual levels of glucocorticoids in Alpine marmot hair

“…The ability to non-invasively monitor hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function as a proxy of stress in wild populations by quantifying levels of glucocorticoids (GCs), is a powerful conservation tool [18] . Non-invasive estimation of GCs is used in the wild to monitor animal welfare [55] , assess response to anthropomorphic factors [29] , monitor the ‘health’ of a population [21] , evaluate the impact of conservation management strategies [37] and make predictions pertaining to survival of wild populations facing environmental changes [49] . Although GCs can be quantified in numerous matrices the predominant media used for wild populations has been faeces [45] .…”

Macrophysiology for decision‐making

“…Nonetheless, from the broad range of available literature, it is clear that macrophysiology, and in particular in its close ties to conservation physiology, has contributed significant practical information at the local and global levels (e.g. Cooke et al., 2020; Madliger et al., 2022). Three examples from the global, and regional Antarctic, settings provide clear evidence of the impact pathway and benefits.…”