Center for Species Survival, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA.
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA, USA.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1200:91-162. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-23633-5_5.
To reverse the trend of declining wildlife populations globally, individuals must be provided with conditions that allow them to not just survive, but to thrive. It is no longer only the remit of captive breeding programs to ensure animal well-being; in situ conservation efforts also must consider how environmental and anthropogenic pressures impact wild populations, and how to mitigate them-especially with regards to reproduction and survival. Stress and welfare are complex concepts that necessitate an understanding of how stressors affect animals on both individual and population levels. There are species differences in how factors impact well-being, related in part to natural history, which also are shaped by individual perceptions and coping abilities. A multitude of stress-related responses then have the potential to disrupt fertility on many levels, and ultimately fitness. A major limitation to advancing welfare science is the lack of definitive tests to verify welfare status; i.e., is the animal happy or not? While analyses of circulating or excreted glucocorticoids have for decades been the primary method of assessing stress, today we recognize the need for more objective indicators that incorporate multiple physiological systems, including behavior, to assess both negative and positive welfare states. In this chapter, we discuss the potential for stress to disrupt, and sometimes facilitate reproduction, including the key role that glucocorticoids play. We then discuss a number of physiological biomarkers, which in addition to glucocorticoids, have the potential to assess well-being and the role of stress on reproduction. Finally, we discuss allostatic load, a method by which multiple physiological markers are used to inform on morbidity and mortality risk in humans, which if applied to wildlife, could be a powerful tool for conservation.
为了扭转全球野生动物数量减少的趋势，必须为个人提供条件，使他们不仅能够生存，而且能够茁壮成长。确保动物福祉不再仅仅是圈养繁殖计划的职责；就地保护工作还必须考虑环境和人为压力如何影响野生种群，以及如何减轻这些压力——特别是在繁殖和生存方面。压力和福利是复杂的概念，需要了解压力源如何在个体和种群层面上影响动物。不同物种对因素如何影响福利的反应方式存在差异，部分原因是其自然历史，这也受到个体感知和应对能力的影响。然后，大量与压力相关的反应有可能在多个层面上破坏生育能力，并最终影响适应性。推进福利科学的一个主要限制是缺乏明确的测试来验证福利状况；也就是说，动物是否快乐？虽然数十年来，循环或排泄的糖皮质激素分析一直是评估压力的主要方法，但今天我们认识到需要更客观的指标，这些指标结合了多个生理系统，包括行为，以评估负面和正面的福利状态。在本章中，我们讨论了压力干扰生殖的潜力，有时也会促进生殖，包括糖皮质激素所起的关键作用。然后，我们讨论了一些生理生物标志物，除了糖皮质激素外，这些标志物还有潜力评估幸福感和压力对生殖的作用。最后，我们讨论了适应负荷，这是一种使用多个生理标志物来告知人类发病率和死亡率风险的方法，如果将其应用于野生动物，可能成为保护的有力工具。
