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Landscape of stress: Tree mortality influences physiological stress and survival in a native mesocarnivore
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 7, p e0253604 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Climate change and anthropogenic modifications to the landscape can have both positive and negative effects on an animal. Linking landscape change to physiological stress and fitness of an animal is a fundamental tenet to be examined in applied ecology. Cortisol is a glucocorticoid hormone that can be used to indicate an animal’s physiological stress response. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, fishers (Pekania pennanti) are a threatened mesocarnivore that have been subjected to rapid landscape changes due to anthropogenic modifications and tree mortality related to a 4-year drought. We measured cortisol concentrations in the hair of 64 fishers (41 females, 23 males) captured and radio-collared in the Sierra National Forest, California. We addressed two main questions: (1) Is the physiological stress response of fishers influenced by anthropogenic factors, habitat type, canopy cover, and tree mortality due to drought in their home range? (2) Does the physiological stress response influence survival, reproduction, or body condition? We examined these factors within a fisher home range at 3 scales (30, 60, 95% isopleths). Using model selection, we found that tree mortality was the principle driver influencing stress levels among individual fishers with female and male fishers having increasing cortisol levels in home ranges with increasing tree mortality. Most importantly, we also found a link between physiological stress and demography where female fishers with low cortisol levels had the highest annual survival rate (0.94), whereas females with medium and high cortisol had lower annual survival rates, 0.78 and 0.81, respectively. We found no significant relationships between cortisol levels and body condition, male survival, or litter size. We concluded that tree mortality related to a 4-year drought has created a “landscape of stress” for this small, isolated fisher population.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Litter (animal)
Male
Hydrocortisone
Ecological Parameter Monitoring
Forests
01 natural sciences
Biochemistry
Cortisol
Geographical locations
California
Trees
Medicine and Health Sciences
Lipid Hormones
media_common
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
Eukaryota
Plants
Terrestrial Environments
Droughts
Survival Rate
Habitat
Medicine
Female
Reproduction
Anatomy
Integumentary System
Research Article
Fish Biology
Death Rates
media_common.quotation_subject
Home range
Applied ecology
Science
Climate Change
Population
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
Ecosystems
Population Metrics
Stress, Physiological
Fish Physiology
Mustelidae
Animal Physiology
Animals
education
Steroid Hormones
Population Biology
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Endangered Species
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Hormones
Vertebrate Physiology
United States
Threatened species
North America
Mesocarnivore
People and places
Pines
Zoology
Hair
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....224b5bcfe49cdb882c41bf4d2d83d147