Physiology of Stress in Wild Animals

野生动物的应激生理学

• 批准号: 9975502
• 负责人: L Romero
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-01 至 2003-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9975502&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Physiology; Stress; Wild; Animals

All vertebrates faced with noxious environmental stimuli (such as predators or storms) elicit a stress response culminating in release of glucocorticoid hormones. Even though the stress response is vital to allow animals to successfully cope with predators and storms, 60 years of study have failed to adequately explain how glucocorticoids help wild animals survive. This projects addresses this gap by building on work indicating that some wild birds seasonally alter glucocorticoid release. Three important question arise from this research: Who does it? (Which species seasonally alter glucocorticoid response); How do they do it? (What are the mechanisms); and Why do they do it? This project will answer these questions with integrated laboratory and field studies using three wild avian species. Field studies will monitor seasonal changes in glucocorticoid levels and explore the physiological changes required to alter glucocorticoid release. Laboratory studies will create a model of seasonal glucocorticoid modulation and determine whether glucocorticoids interfere with normal seasonal physiological responses. This project will further define how seasonal changes alter the underlying physiology of the stress response and what survival value these changes impart, and thus have a far reaching impact on our knowledge of the ecological validity of stress responses.

所有脊椎动物面对有害的环境刺激（如捕食者或风暴）都会引起应激反应，最终释放糖皮质激素。尽管应激反应对动物成功应对捕食者和风暴至关重要，但60年的研究未能充分解释糖皮质激素如何帮助野生动物生存。该项目通过建立一些野生鸟类季节性改变糖皮质激素释放的研究来解决这一空白。这项研究产生了三个重要的问题：谁在做？（哪些物种会随季节改变糖皮质激素的反应）；他们是怎么做到的？（机制是什么）；他们为什么这么做？该项目将通过对三种野生鸟类的综合实验室和实地研究来回答这些问题。实地研究将监测糖皮质激素水平的季节性变化，并探索改变糖皮质激素释放所需的生理变化。实验室研究将建立一个季节性糖皮质激素调节的模型，并确定糖皮质激素是否会干扰正常的季节性生理反应。该项目将进一步定义季节变化如何改变应激反应的潜在生理学，以及这些变化赋予的生存价值，从而对我们对应激反应的生态有效性的认识产生深远的影响。