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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
The Conservation Physiology Toolbox: Status And Opportunities, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love, Kevin R. Hultine, Steven J. Cooke
The Conservation Physiology Toolbox: Status And Opportunities, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love, Kevin R. Hultine, Steven J. Cooke
Integrative Biology Publications
For over a century, physiological tools and techniques have been allowing researchers to characterize how organisms respond to changes in their natural environment and how they interact with human activities or infrastructure. Over time, many of these techniques have become part of the conservation physiology toolbox, which is used to monitor, predict, conserve, and restore plant and animal populations under threat. Here, we provide a summary of the tools that currently comprise the conservation physiology toolbox. By assessing patterns in articles that have been published in 'Conservation Physiology' over the past 5 years that focus on introducing, refining and validating …
Conservation Implications Of A Lack Of Relationship Between Baseline Glucocorticoids And Fitness In A Wild Passerine, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love
Conservation Implications Of A Lack Of Relationship Between Baseline Glucocorticoids And Fitness In A Wild Passerine, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love
Integrative Biology Publications
The application of physiological measures to conservation monitoring has been gaining momentum and, while a suite of physiological traits are available to ascertain disturbance and condition in wildlife populations, glucocorticoids (i.e., GCs; cortisol and corticosterone) are the most heavily employed. The interpretation of GC levels as sensitive indicators of population change necessitates that GCs and metrics of population persistence are linked. However, the relationship between GCs and fitness may be highly context-dependent, changing direction, or significance, depending on the GC measure, fitness metric, life history stage, or other intrinsic and extrinsic contexts considered. We examined the relationship between baseline plasma …
Employing Individual Measures Of Baseline Glucocorticoids As Population-Level Conservation Biomarkers: Considering Within-Individual Variation In A Breeding Passerine, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love
Employing Individual Measures Of Baseline Glucocorticoids As Population-Level Conservation Biomarkers: Considering Within-Individual Variation In A Breeding Passerine, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love
Integrative Biology Publications
Labile physiological variables, such as stress hormones [i.e. glucocorticoids (GCs)], allow individuals to react to perturbations in their environment and may therefore reflect the effect of disturbances or positive conservation initiatives in advance of population-level demographic measures. Although the application of GCs as conservation biomarkers has been of extensive interest, few studies have explicitly investigated whether baseline GC concentrations respond to disturbances consistently across individuals. However, confirmation of consistent responses is of paramount importance to assessing the ease of use of GCs in natural systems and to making valid interpretations regarding population-level change (or lack of change) in GC concentrations. …
Temporal Overlap And Repeatability Of Feather Corticosterone Levels: Practical Considerations For Use As A Biomarker, Christopher M. Harris, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love
Temporal Overlap And Repeatability Of Feather Corticosterone Levels: Practical Considerations For Use As A Biomarker, Christopher M. Harris, Christine L. Madliger, Oliver P. Love
Integrative Biology Publications
The measurement of corticosterone (CORT) levels in feathers has recently become an appealing tool for the conservation toolbox, potentially providing a non-invasive, integrated measure of stress activity throughout the time of feather growth. However, because the mechanism of CORT deposition, storage and stability in feathers is not fully understood, it is unclear how reliable this measure may be, especially when there is an extended interval between growth and feather collection. We compared CORT levels of naturally grown feathers from tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) that were moulted and regrown concurrently and therefore expected to have similar CORT levels. Specifically, we compared …