Physiology of Stress in Wild Animals

野生动物的应激生理学

• 批准号: 0235044
• 负责人: L Romero
• 金额: $ 30.23万
• 依托单位: Tufts University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-05-01 至 2007-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0235044&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Physiology; Stress; Wild; Animals

L. Michael RomeroPhysiology of Stress in Wild AnimalsProposal Number 0235044 All organisms are faced with noxious stimuli from the environment (such as predators or storms). Vertebrates activate a suite of physiological mechanisms to protect themselves from these stimuli, collectively called the stress response. A vital part of the stress response is the release of the glucocorticoid steroid hormones, but even after more than 60 years of studying stress we still have only a rudimentary idea of how glucocorticoids help wild animals survive. Earlier work indicated that several free-living bird species seasonally regulate glucocorticoid release by varying concentrations of the hormone throughout the year. This proposal builds upon these results to ask the following questions: why do animals seasonally regulate glucocorticoid levels; is there a physiological consequence; and does it affect their susceptibility to chronic stress? Answering these questions will require an integrated approach of both laboratory and field studies, such as the one proposed here. We will capture wild free-living house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and test how glucocorticoids help regulate blood glucose and triglyceride levels at different times of the year. We anticipate that glucose and triglyceride regulation will depend upon seasonal changes in glucocorticoid levels. We will also bring house sparrows into the laboratory to test whether physiological responses to chronic stress vary seasonally. We anticipate that the magnitude of the negative consequences of chronic stress will depend upon the time of year. These results will help define the physiological consequences of seasonal glucocorticoid release during stress in wild animals, thus having a far-reaching impact on our basic knowledge of the ecological validity of stress responses.This research will also provide important training for students. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be exposed to, and learn, many important research skills in both the laboratory and field. These findings will be valuable to researchers in diverse fields including Conservation Biology, Endocrinology, and Population Biology, just to mention a few.

野生动物的应激生理学建议0235044所有的有机体都面临着来自环境的有害刺激(如捕食者或风暴)。脊椎动物激活一套生理机制来保护自己免受这些刺激的影响，统称为应激反应。应激反应的一个重要部分是糖皮质激素的释放，但即使在研究了60多年的应激之后，我们仍然对糖皮质激素如何帮助野生动物生存只有一个初步的了解。早期的研究表明，几种自由生活的鸟类通过全年不同浓度的激素来季节性地调节糖皮质激素的释放。这项建议以这些结果为基础，提出以下问题：为什么动物会季节性地调节糖皮质激素水平；是否存在生理后果；是否会影响它们对慢性应激的敏感性？回答这些问题需要实验室和实地研究的综合方法，就像这里提出的那样。我们将捕获野生自由生活的家雀，并测试糖皮质激素如何在一年中的不同时间帮助调节血糖和甘油三酯水平。我们预计血糖和甘油三酯的调节将取决于糖皮质激素水平的季节性变化。我们还将把家雀带进实验室，测试对慢性压力的生理反应是否会随着季节的变化而变化。我们预计，慢性压力的负面后果的程度将取决于一年中的不同时间。这些结果将有助于确定野生动物应激期间季节性糖皮质激素释放的生理后果，从而对我们关于应激反应的生态有效性的基础知识产生深远的影响。本研究也将为学生提供重要的培训。研究生和本科生都将接触和学习实验室和现场的许多重要研究技能。这些发现将对包括保护生物学、内分泌学和种群生物学在内的不同领域的研究人员具有价值，仅举几例。