Conservation Physiology最新文献

Techniques for using natural anti-predator cues to guide the movements of animals and reduce human-wildlife conflict are highly desired. With continuous use, sensory adaptation, habituation and adaptive behavioural changes often reduce the efficacy of sensory deterrents. Theory suggests responses can be maintained with application practices that modulate the stimulus in time (on/off) or by continuously varying stimulus intensity. In aquatic environments, damage-released alarm cues from injured conspecifics are a reliable source of information regarding predation risk that can be used to guide the movements of invasive fishes. We used sea lampreys, Petromyzon marinus, drawn from an invasive population, to investigate whether modulating alarm cue exposure (on/off) or varying cue concentration during continuous exposure (low/high) would forestall predicted declinations in swim activity and spatial avoidance. We found that continuous exposure to alarm cue at a fixed concentration resulted in the predicted decline in swim activity. Modulating odour exposure timing (on/off) partially prevented response declination in swim activity, whereas varying odour concentration (low/high) fully prevented the reduction. We did not observe the previously reported habituation of the spatial avoidance response, likely due to the use of a small high-throughput assay system. Our results suggest modulating alarm cue exposure by varying odour concentration to prevent response declination holds promise as a management practice. Moreover, test systems for developing management practices should be carefully matched to the scale of the behavioural response being investigated.

Plant conservation programs strive to integrate information from various life-history stages of focal species when developing holistic recovery strategies. Therefore, in-depth knowledge of the seed-to-seedling transition, a crucial phase that begins with the germination process, provides key perspectives that support recovery. Analyses of seed functions (e.g. germination timing) and related traits (e.g. germination rate, temperature requirements, stress tolerance) in response to selective pressures (e.g. temperature) can fill key knowledge gaps for the seeds of most at-risk plants. Here, we investigated the germination ecology of Harperocallis flava, a rare, globally imperilled, federally and state endangered (government protected) species from Florida, USA. We tested the germination of fresh seeds from three habitats collected over 3 years following exposure to simulated seasonal temperatures of winter (day/night temperatures of 20/10°C), early spring/late fall (25/15°C), early fall/late spring (30/20°C), or summer (35/25°C). We quantified the germination response of H. flava seeds to habitat of origin, seasonal temperature and collection year to determine how these factors influence germination dynamics and to inform seed-based conservation of this and other rare species. Considerable variation in germination responses was observed among the temperature treatments, seed collection years and habitats. Germination tended to be lower at simulated summer temperatures and higher at winter and late fall/early spring temperatures, which suggests that germination in the wild likely occurs in the period following natural shedding while temperatures are below 30°C (i.e. late fall through early spring). Moreover, the spatiotemporal variation of the germination responses highlights the value of basing conservation recommendations on multi-year, multi-population seed biology research when possible.

Given the imminent threat of global warming and rising water temperatures in Austria, this study investigated the effects of elevated temperature on gene expression, energy reserves, and cellular energy status in brown trout (Salmo trutta), a species particularly sensitive to increasing water temperature. A total of 250 fish were placed in four stream channels under flow-through conditions. Two channels were maintained at 9 °C as controls, while the other two had their temperature gradually increased to 20 °C over seven days and then maintained at 20 °C for 21 days. Sampling was conducted on day 1, after the temperature reached 20 °C, and the last day of high-temperature exposure on day 21. At each sampling point growth, hepatosomatic index and the fat content of the viscera were measured and/or calculated, and liver samples were taken for gene expression and metabolite analyses. Elevated temperature significantly increased the expression of genes related to cellular stress response (hsp70, hsp90 aa1, cat, and casp8) compared to controls. However, there was no significant difference in the expression of genes associated with lipid and carbohydrate metabolism (d5fad and pfkfb4). Furthermore, there was a decrease in energy storage indicated by a decrease in the hepatosomatic index, glycogen, triglycerides and ATP in the liver as well as the fat content of the viscera. Cellular energy status also significantly decreased, as indicated by the calculated adenylate energy charge. Physiologically, this culminated in suppression of growth in the treatment group after 21 days. This study shows that elevated temperature leads to significant trade-offs in brown trout, which may lead to ecological consequences over the long run. These findings offer critical insights into the physiological impacts of elevated temperature that help evaluate the species' acclimation to rising water temperature and inform the development of effective conservation strategies in a warming world.

Noninvasive faecal hormone analyses can provide valuable information on the physiological state of wild animals and how they respond to ecological changes or anthropogenic disturbances. However, preservation techniques to prevent hormone alteration can be problematic, and not all are field friendly. We compared five processing methodologies to preserve samples for faecal glucocorticoid, progestagen and thyroid hormone metabolites. Samples were collected from adult zoo Africa savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) (one male, four females) immediately after defecation. Subsamples were then subjected to five preservation methods: lyophilisation (LYO) (considered the gold standard), dehydration, solid-phase extraction (SPE) and two ethanol extraction methods-with and without being immediately dried down. Faecal glucocorticoid, progestagen and thyroid hormone metabolites were quantified by validated enzyme immunoassays. After 7 days at room temperature (to emulate shipping conditions), faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations were lower for all methods compared to LYO. For thyroid hormone metabolite concentrations, the dehydration process resulted in higher concentrations compared to LYO, whereas with SPE, concentrations were lower. For faecal progestagen metabolite concentrations, there were no discernible differences across methods. Based on these results, we recommend ethanol extraction followed by immediate sample desiccation, a method that combines technical simplicity with the advantage of ambient temperature sample storage and transportation. Nevertheless, each investigator should consider the best method for the research question, field conditions, budget, equipment accessibility and shipping requirements, especially as results can vary by species and assay used. With growing interest in assessing animal welfare, validating field methods for noninvasive hormone monitoring is essential.

The Gulf of Mexico represents the largest ecological barrier between breeding and non-breeding grounds for long-distance migratory songbirds in the Nearctic-Neotropical system. Despite the prominence of the Gulf of Mexico, there are still gaps on fundamental physiological aspects of stopover of migrants in this region, including the role and relative importance of fat and lean mass depletion and deposition. We examined the arrival body condition of Nearctic-Neotropical migrants at a coastal stopover site on St. George Island, FL, in the northern Gulf of Mexico during pre-breeding migration in the spring of 2016-2018. We precisely determined lean body and fat masses on individual birds after a trans-Gulf migratory flight via quantitative magnetic resonance (QMR) technology. We hypothesized that birds with non-breeding ranges in South America would arrive with lower fat and lean masses than birds with non-breeding ranges in the Caribbean or Central America. We also hypothesized that songbirds would increase lean mass at a greater rate than fat mass, as they rebuilt muscle and organ masses. We also compared QMR lean and fat measurements to visual measures of fat and muscle scores. A total of 44 Nearctic-Neotropical migratory bird species occur on St. George Island during spring stopover. Non-breeding range did not influence the arrival fat mass or arrival lean mass in 10 focal transient species, meaning those that have no breeding or non-breeding populations on the site. Our results from recaptured individuals indicated that body mass increase during stopover derives from both lean and fat mass accumulation. Our results provide a robust quantitative assessment of songbird arrival body condition on the northern Gulf of Mexico and contribute to the understanding of the physiology of migratory songbirds after a long-distance flight, which will help inform management decisions for stopover sites located around ecological barriers.

Marine heatwaves occurring against the backdrop of rising global sea surface temperatures have triggered mass coral bleaching and mortality. Irradiance is critical to coral growth but is also an implicating factor in photodamage, leading to the expulsion of symbiotic algae under increased temperatures. Numerical modelling is a valuable tool that can provide insight into the state of the symbiont photochemistry during coral bleaching events. However, very few numerical physiological models combine the influence of light and temperature for simulating coral bleaching. The coral bleaching model used was derived from the coral bleaching representation in the eReefs configuration of the CSIRO Environmental Modelling Suite, with the most significant change being the equation for the rate of detoxification of reactive oxygen species. Simulated physiological bleaching outcomes from the model were compared to photochemical bleaching proxies measured during an ex situ moderate degree-heating week (up to 4.4) experiment. The bleaching response of Acropora divaricata was assessed in an unshaded and 30% shade treatment. The model-simulated timing for the onset of bleaching under elevated temperatures closely corresponded with an initial photochemical decline as observed in the experiment. Increased bleaching severity under elevated temperature and unshaded light was also simulated by the model, an outcome confirmed in the experiment. This is the first experimental validation of a temperature-mediated, light-driven model of coral bleaching from the perspective of the symbiont. When forced by realistic environmental conditions, process-based mechanistic modelling could improve accuracy in predicting heterogeneous bleaching outcomes during contemporary marine heatwave events and future climate change scenarios. Mechanistic modelling will be invaluable in evaluating management interventions for deployment in coral reef environments.

Understanding metabolic responses to temperature elevations is critical for determining how fish populations will be impacted by the increased occurrence of extreme heat events. Here, we characterized the thermal tolerance limits and metabolic functions of three closely related darter species native to the Grand River of Southern Ontario: Fantail darter (Etheostoma flabellare; FTD), Rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum; RBD) and Johnny darter (Etheostoma nigrum; JD). Brain and heart activity of enzymes associated with cellular respiration were analysed for each species at 15°C baseline and following a Critical Thermal Maximum (CT_max) test. Additionally, aerobic scope (AS) was determined for each species while exposed to four heat ramps designed to mimic previously recorded heatwaves. CT_max significantly differed between species with FTD displaying the highest at 33.3°C, JD second at 31.8°C and RBD the lowest at 30.7°C. In darters not exposed to heat stress, FTD possessed higher brain enzymatic activity rates, specifically in pyruvate kinase (PK), citrate synthase (CS) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH). These patterns shifted slightly after exposure to CT_max, with JD displaying a substantial elevation in PK, lactate dehydrogenase, CS and MDH activity, suggesting they had greater enzymatic capacity at temperature extremes. Within heart tissue, we observed no interspecific differences at baseline temperatures; however, RBD had lower enzyme activity than FTD or JD in all enzymes but cytochrome c oxidase following CT_max. Metabolically, FTD exhibited the highest AS following exposure to 10 and 15°C temperature elevations. Our findings demonstrate that FTD may be the best equipped to respond to temperature-induced increases in metabolic demand due to their elevated baseline enzymatic activity and broader AS. These insights may contribute to future darter conservation efforts by informing predictions on species population shifts, particularly in the context of climate change.

Intertidal bivalves survive longer without oxygen when aerially exposed during low tide than when submerged in hypoxic water. To understand this, we combined three biosensors to continuously monitor responses of individual blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) to aerial exposure in simulated low-tide conditions and during aqueous hypoxia. A valve sensor, heart rate monitor, and an in-shell oxygen microsensor simultaneously recorded behavioural and physiological responses. During aerial exposure, which often occurs in the intertidal, all individuals immediately closed their valves, rapidly depleted in-shell oxygen, and decreased their heart rate. This suggested a shift to anaerobic metabolism and reduced activity as mechanisms to save energy and survive in-shell anoxia during 'low-tide' conditions. At the onset of exposure to hypoxic (<1 mg O₂/L) water, however, all mussels fully opened their valves, with 75% of the individuals increasing valve activity for at least 1 hour (the duration of our measurements), possibly in an attempt to collect more oxygen by increasing filtration activity. Only 25% of the mussels closed their valves after about 40 minutes of aqueous hypoxia, shifting to the energy efficient strategy used during aerial exposure. As the valves of most individuals remained open during hypoxia, a mussel does not appear to need to close its valve to begin the transition to anaerobic metabolism. Interindividual variation in responses was much lower after exposure to air compared to aqueous hypoxia when the heart rate of most mussels either steadily declined or became highly erratic. Differences in energy expenditure during these different types of exposures likely explains why most mussels, at least from the population we studied, can survive longer during exposure to air compared to aqueous hypoxia, a situation that could occur under situations of elevated temperature in waters with high nutrient loads.

Individual animal health assessments are a key consideration for conservation initiatives. Environmental shifts associated with climate change, such as documented rises in pathogen emergence, predation pressures and human activities, create an increasingly stressful world for many species and have been linked with marked changes in movement behaviour. Even in healthy individuals, variations in allostatic load, the cumulative effects of long-term stress, may alter behavioural priorities over time. Here, we aimed to build links between animal health assessment information and movement ecology, using narwhals in the Canadian Arctic as a case study. A composite stress index was developed to incorporate multiple available health (e.g. health assessments), stress (e.g. hormones) and body condition metrics from clinically healthy individuals, and applied within the framework of widely used hidden Markov modelling of animal movement data. Individuals with a higher composite stress index tended to prioritize behaviours indicative of a stress response, including increasing the probability of transitioning to transiting behaviour as compared to those with a lower stress index. By incorporating a composite stress index that synthesizes multiple health indices in a flexible framework, we highlight that including information indicative of allostatic load may be important in explaining variation in behaviour, even for seemingly healthy animals. The modelling framework presented here highlights a flexible approach to incorporate health assessment information and provides an approach that is widely applicable to existing and future work on a range of species.

Understanding individual variation in adult condition is necessary for developing hypotheses on how nest initiation, chick development and recruitment are related in many migratory birds. We quantified attributes of condition among Franklin's Gull (Lecuophaeus pipixcan) adults initiating nesting at different dates during the nesting period using four metrics: body measurements recorded from live-trapped birds, the corticosterone levels measured from blood samples collected serially from live-trapped birds, heterophil/lymphocyte ratios determined from blood smears and antimicrobial capacity of plasma. Variation in physiological condition was related to the timing of nesting such that individuals nesting later in the season had lower mass relative to skeletal size, increasing corticosterone concentrations measured 3-, 20- and 30-minute post-capture and reduced immune performance. Specifically, residual body mass decreased and keel bone exposure increased with laying date. Additionally, birds nesting later in the season show higher maximum corticosterone concentrations after exposure to acute capture stress along with reduced bacteria-killing capability of their plasma. Our findings indicate that timing of nesting is significantly related to the physiological condition of Franklin's Gull. Individual variation in condition may be related to time constraints observed in temperate latitudes and whether these birds are capital (i.e. acquiring resources outside the breeding area) or income (i.e. acquiring resources locally) breeders. Quantifying variation in physiological condition within the breeding season will aid in modelling population-level response to shifts in nesting phenology.