Meta-analysis reveals between-population differences affect the link between glucocorticoids and population health.

ABSTRACT: Glucocorticoids are a popular tool for monitoring health of animal populations because they can increase with environmental stressors and can indicate chronic stress. However, individual responses to stressors create variation in the glucocorticoid-fitness relationship within populations. The inconsistency in this relationship calls into question the widespread use of glucocorticoids in conservation. We investigated the sources of variation in the glucocorticoid-fitness relationship by conducting a meta-analysis across a diverse set of species exposed to conservation-relevant stressors. We first quantified the extent to which studies inferred population health from glucocorticoids without first validating the glucocorticoid-fitness relationship in their own populations. We also tested whet

SUBMITTER: Newediuk L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9945071 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature