Reassessment of the cardio-respiratory stress response, using the king penguin as a model

• Published in: Stress
• Main Authors: Willener, Astrid S. T., Halsey, Lewis G., Strike, Siobhán, Enstipp, Manfred R., Georges, Jean-Yves, Handrich, Yves
• Other Authors: Department of Life Sciences, University of Roehampton, United Kingdom, Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Association Suisse des Femmes Diplômées des Universités;Company of Biologists;Society for Experimental Biology
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: Accelerometer; heart rate; king penguin; oxygen consumption; psychological stressor; respirometry; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; King Penguins
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01145380; https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2014.986451

International audience Research in to short-term cardio-respiratory changes in animais in reaction to a psychologicalstressor typically describes increases in rate of oxygen consumption (Vo,) and heart rate.Consequently, the broad consensus is that they represent a fundamental stressor responsegeneralizable across adult species. However, movement levels can also change in the presenceof a stressor, yet studies have not accounted for this possible confound on heart rate. Thus thedirect effects of psychological stressors on the cardio-respiratory system are not resolved. Weused an innovative experimental design employing accelerometers attached to king penguins(Aptenodytes patagonicus) to measure and thus account for mavement levels in a sedentary yetfree-ta-mave animal model during a repeated measures stress experiment. As with previousstudies on other species, incubating king penguins (N = 6) exhibited significant increases inboth Va, and heart rate when exposed ta the stressor. Hawever, mavement levels, while stilllaw, also increased in respanse ta the stressar. Once this was accaunted for by camparingperiads oftime during the control and stress conditions when movement levels were similar asrecorded by the accelerometers, only Va, significantly increased; there was no change in heartrate. These findings offer evidence that changing movement levels have an important effect onthe measured stress response and that the cardia-respiratary respanse per se ta a psycholog icalstressor (Le. the respanse as a result of physialagical changes directly attributable to thestressar) is an increase in Vo, withaut an increase in heart rate.