Romero L Michael
Department of Biology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2004 May;19(5):249-55. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2004.03.008.
Increasingly, levels of the 'stress hormones' cortisol and corticosterone are being used by ecologists as indicators of physiological stress in wild vertebrates. The amplitude of hormonal response is assumed to correlate with the overall health of an animal and, by extension, the health of the population. However, much of what is known about the physiology of stress has been elucidated by the biomedical research community. I summarize five physiological mechanisms that regulate hormone release during stress that should be useful to ecologists and conservationists. Incorporating these physiological mechanisms into the design and interpretation of ecological studies will make these increasingly popular studies of stress in ecological settings more rigorous.
生态学家越来越多地将“应激激素”皮质醇和皮质酮的水平用作野生脊椎动物生理应激的指标。激素反应的幅度被认为与动物的整体健康状况相关，进而与种群的健康状况相关。然而，关于应激生理学的许多知识是由生物医学研究界阐明的。我总结了五种在应激期间调节激素释放的生理机制，这些机制对生态学家和保护主义者应该是有用的。将这些生理机制纳入生态研究的设计和解释中，将使这些在生态环境中越来越受欢迎的应激研究更加严谨。
