Open AccessFeather corticosterone does not correlate with environmental stressors or body condition in an endangered waterbird
Author(s) -
Brenna M. G. Gormally,
Charles B. van Rees,
Emily M. Bowers,
J. Michael Reed,
L. Michael Romero
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
conservation physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.942
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2051-1434
DOI - 10.1093/conphys/coaa125
Subject(s) - biology , endangered species , corticosterone , feather , ecology , population , habitat , stressor , wildlife , habitat destruction , zoology , demography , biochemistry , neuroscience , sociology , hormone
Feather corticosterone is a popular conservation physiology technique to assess stress in wild populations. We show that it does not correlate with habitat (human disturbance, urbanization, predation, density) or individual (body condition) level stressors in the Hawaiian gallinule, an endangered waterbird that experiences a robust ‘stressor gradient’ across its range.