Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae)
Introduction In Antarctica, there is growing concern about the potential effect of anthropogenic activities (i.e., tourism, research) on wildlife, especially since human activities are developing at an unprecedented rate. Although guidelines exist to mitigate negative impacts, fundamental data are c...
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fevo.2023.1099028 2024-09-15T17:44:05+00:00 Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) Marciau, Coline Raclot, Thierry Bestley, Sophie Barbraud, Christophe Delord, Karine Hindell, Mark Andrew Kato, Akiko Parenteau, Charline Poupart, Timothée Ribout, Cécile Ropert-Coudert, Yan Angelier, Frédéric 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1099028 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1099028/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 11 ISSN 2296-701X journal-article 2023 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1099028 2024-07-09T04:04:13Z Introduction In Antarctica, there is growing concern about the potential effect of anthropogenic activities (i.e., tourism, research) on wildlife, especially since human activities are developing at an unprecedented rate. Although guidelines exist to mitigate negative impacts, fundamental data are currently lacking to reliably assess impacts. Physiological tools, such as circulating corticosterone levels, appear promising to assess the potential impact of human disturbance on Antarctic vertebrates. Methods In this study, we compared the body condition, and the physiological sensitivity to stress (i.e., basal and stress-induced corticosterone level) of adult and chick Adélie penguins between a disturbed and an undisturbed area (i.e., 2 colonies located in the middle of a research station exposed to intense human activities and 2 colonies located on protected islands with minimal human disturbance). Results We did not find any significant impact of human activities on body condition and corticosterone levels in adults (incubating adults, brooding adults). In chicks, there were significant inter-colony variations in stress-induced corticosterone levels. Specifically, the chicks from the disturbed colonies tended to have higher stress-induced corticosterone levels than the chicks from the protected areas although this difference between areas was not significant. In addition, and independently of human disturbance we also found significant differences in adult body condition, and chick corticosterone level between colonies. Discussion Overall, our study suggests that this species is not dramatically impacted by human activities, at least when humans and penguins have cohabited for several decades. Our results support therefore the idea that this species is likely to be tolerant to human disturbance and this corroborates with the persistence of Adélie penguin colonies in the middle of the research station. However, our results also suggest that chicks might be more sensitive to human disturbance than adults and might ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Pygoscelis adeliae Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 11 |
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Introduction In Antarctica, there is growing concern about the potential effect of anthropogenic activities (i.e., tourism, research) on wildlife, especially since human activities are developing at an unprecedented rate. Although guidelines exist to mitigate negative impacts, fundamental data are currently lacking to reliably assess impacts. Physiological tools, such as circulating corticosterone levels, appear promising to assess the potential impact of human disturbance on Antarctic vertebrates. Methods In this study, we compared the body condition, and the physiological sensitivity to stress (i.e., basal and stress-induced corticosterone level) of adult and chick Adélie penguins between a disturbed and an undisturbed area (i.e., 2 colonies located in the middle of a research station exposed to intense human activities and 2 colonies located on protected islands with minimal human disturbance). Results We did not find any significant impact of human activities on body condition and corticosterone levels in adults (incubating adults, brooding adults). In chicks, there were significant inter-colony variations in stress-induced corticosterone levels. Specifically, the chicks from the disturbed colonies tended to have higher stress-induced corticosterone levels than the chicks from the protected areas although this difference between areas was not significant. In addition, and independently of human disturbance we also found significant differences in adult body condition, and chick corticosterone level between colonies. Discussion Overall, our study suggests that this species is not dramatically impacted by human activities, at least when humans and penguins have cohabited for several decades. Our results support therefore the idea that this species is likely to be tolerant to human disturbance and this corroborates with the persistence of Adélie penguin colonies in the middle of the research station. However, our results also suggest that chicks might be more sensitive to human disturbance than adults and might ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Marciau, Coline Raclot, Thierry Bestley, Sophie Barbraud, Christophe Delord, Karine Hindell, Mark Andrew Kato, Akiko Parenteau, Charline Poupart, Timothée Ribout, Cécile Ropert-Coudert, Yan Angelier, Frédéric |
spellingShingle |
Marciau, Coline Raclot, Thierry Bestley, Sophie Barbraud, Christophe Delord, Karine Hindell, Mark Andrew Kato, Akiko Parenteau, Charline Poupart, Timothée Ribout, Cécile Ropert-Coudert, Yan Angelier, Frédéric Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) |
author_facet |
Marciau, Coline Raclot, Thierry Bestley, Sophie Barbraud, Christophe Delord, Karine Hindell, Mark Andrew Kato, Akiko Parenteau, Charline Poupart, Timothée Ribout, Cécile Ropert-Coudert, Yan Angelier, Frédéric |
author_sort |
Marciau, Coline |
title |
Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) |
title_short |
Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) |
title_full |
Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) |
title_fullStr |
Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) |
title_sort |
body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on adélie penguins (pygoscelis adeliae) |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1099028 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1099028/full |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Pygoscelis adeliae |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Pygoscelis adeliae |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 11 ISSN 2296-701X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1099028 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
11 |
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1810491422071062528 |