Physiological stress levels predict survival probabilities in wild rabbits

• Published in: Hormones and behavior Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 313 - 320
• Main Authors: Cabezas, Sonia, Blas, Julio, Marchant, Tracy A., Moreno, Sacramento
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01-03-2007; Elsevier; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Wild - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body condition; Body Mass Index; Corticosterone; Corticosterone - analysis; Corticosterone - blood; Endocrinology; European wild rabbit; Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites; Feces - chemistry; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glucocorticoids - analysis; Glucocorticoids - metabolism; Hormones; Hormones and behavior; Male; Non-invasive monitoring; Oryctolagus cuniculus; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rabbits; Rabbits - physiology; Stress; Stress, Physiological - blood; Stress, Physiological - pathology; Survival; Survival Analysis; Translocation; European wild rabbit; Translocation; Oryctolagus cuniculus; Corticosterone; Non-invasive monitoring; Survival; Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites; Stress; Body condition; Steroid hormone; Metabolite; Rabbit; Lagomorpha; Glucocorticoid; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; Adrenal hormone; Predictive factor; Body; Monitoring
• ISSN: 0018-506X; 1095-6867
• DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2006.11.004

Among vertebrates, short-term elevations of glucocorticoid hormones (corticosterone or cortisol) facilitate a suite of physiological and behavioral changes aimed at overcoming environmental perturbations or other stressful events. However, chronically elevated glucocorticoids can have deleterious physiological consequences, and it is still unclear as to what constitutes an adaptive physiological response to long-term stress. In this study, we experimentally exposed European wild rabbits
Oryctolagus cuniculus to a source of long-term stress (simulated through a 2- to 4-week period of captivity) and tested whether glucocorticoid physiology predicted two major components of rabbit fitness: body condition and survival probability. Following exposure to long-term stress, moderately elevated serum corticosterone and fecal glucocorticoid metabolites levels in the wild rabbits were negatively associated with body condition, but positively associated with subsequent survival upon release. Our results suggest that the cost of maintaining elevated corticosterone levels in terms of decreased body condition is balanced by the increased chance of survival upon release.