Feather corticosterone reveals that urban great tits experience lower corticosterone exposure than forest individuals during dominance-rank establishment.

ABSTRACT: Although the consequences of urbanization for the physiological health of animals are the focus of much active research, an overlooked aspect is how physiology could be indirectly modulated by the urban environment via changes in intraspecific behavioural interactions, particularly among gregarious species. Both urbanization and the establishment, as well as maintenance, of hierarchical rank position are processes that could incur physiological stress. Measurements of glucocorticoids (GCs) in relation to urbanization, however, have yielded inconsistent results. In most cases, GCs have been measured in blood, offering only a 'snapshot' of an animal's current physiological state. Because circulating GCs are incorporated into growing feathers or hair, measurements of feather/hair GCs offer a

SUBMITTER: Brodin A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10225983 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature