How to capture wild passerine species to study baseline corticosterone levels |
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Authors: | Frédéric Angelier Christopher M Tonra Rebecca L Holberton and Peter P Marra |
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Institution: | (1) Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, National Zoological Park, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA;(2) Laboratory of Avian Biology, Department of Biological Science, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA;(3) Present address: Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA |
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Abstract: | Baseline corticosterone levels have been suggested to be an effective tool to assess and monitor the health status of individuals
and populations of wild birds. However, measuring baseline corticosterone levels in the field is difficult because the capture
protocol may affect rates of corticosterone secretion. In passerine birds, two methods of capture are widely used: (1) passive
netting consisting of monitoring mist-nets frequently to check if a bird has been caught; and (2) target netting consisting
of installing a conspecific decoy and/or playing a tape-recorded conspecific song in the vicinity of a mist-net until the
territorial bird is captured. Our objective here was to determine whether these methods of capture are effective at achieving
non-disturbed baseline corticosterone levels in American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla). We found that passive netting was associated with elevated corticosterone levels, suggesting that hanging in a net for
several minutes activates the HPA axis and, thus, elicits an adreno-cortical stress response. In contrast, target netting
was not associated with an increase in corticosterone levels, regardless of the length of time between when the target bird
first approached the net and when it was captured. Therefore, we suggest that researchers interested in estimated baseline
corticosterone in this species use target netting and not passive netting. |
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