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Effects Of A Chronic Increase In Plasma Corticosterone On The Brooding Behavior Of The Prairie Skink, Plestiodon Septentrionalis , Alexander James Anton
Effects Of A Chronic Increase In Plasma Corticosterone On The Brooding Behavior Of The Prairie Skink, Plestiodon Septentrionalis , Alexander James Anton
Student Work
The effects of chronic corticosterone (CORT) increases on the maternal behavior of the Prairie Skink, Plestiodon septentrionalis were studied in the laboratory during the summer of 2012. It was hypothesized that chronic increases in plasma CORT would result in decreased maternal effort and higher egg mortality, with similar results to analogous studies in birds. Plasma CORT was elevated using a non-invasive, exogenous treatment and behaviors were observed using video recordings. CORT treatments significantly reduced the amount of time spent tightly coiled around eggs in experimental individuals, and significantly decreased the amount of time experimental females spend in contact with their …