Corticosterone and glucose are correlated and show similar response patterns to temperature and stress in a free-living bird.

ABSTRACT: Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones have traditionally been interpreted as indicators of stress, but the extent to which they provide information on physiological state remains debated. GCs are metabolic hormones that amongst other functions ensure increasing fuel (i.e. glucose) supply on the face of fluctuating energetic demands, a role often overlooked by ecological studies investigating the consequences of GC variation. Furthermore, because energy budget is limited, in natural contexts where multiple stimuli coexist, the organisms' ability to respond physiologically may be constrained when multiple triggers of metabolic responses overlap in time. Using free-living spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) chicks, we experimentally tested whether two stimuli of different nature known to trigger a me

SUBMITTER: Millanes PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11418182 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature