Physiology of Stress in Wild Animals

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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.