Life Sciences Commons^™

Ethological Aspects Of Stress In A Model Lizard, Anolis Carolinensis, Neil Greenberg

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Research on the stress response in reptiles can provide a useful comparative perspective for understanding how the constituent elements of the response can be put into service of diverse behavioral adaptations. A summary of the neural and endocrine causes and consequences of specific behavioral patterns seen in the small diurnal lizard, Anolis carolinensis, has provided a model for the exploration of the dynamics of autonomic and neurohormonal contributions to adaptive behavior.

In this species, changes in body color provide indices of the flux of circulating stress relevant hormones, and are seen in situations from spontaneous exploration through agonistic behavior. Furthermore, …

Ethological Causes And Consequences Of The Stress Response, Neil Greenberg, James A. Carr, Cliff H. Summers

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Stress involves real or perceived changes within an organism or in the environment that activate an organism’s attempts to cope by means of evolutionarily ancient neural and endocrine mechanisms. Responses to acute stressors involve catecholamines released in varying proportion at different sites in the sympathetic and central nervous systems. These responses may interact with and be complemented by intrinsic rhythms and responses to chronic or intermittent stressors involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Varying patterns of responses to stressors are also affected by an animal=s assessment of their prospects for successful coping. Subsequent central and systemic consequences of the stress response include …