It turns out, the answer is us.
Human activities can negatively affect wildlife populations and, in some cases, may result in long-term stress and health problems in individual animals.
Bears appear to be particularly affected. Aside from the normal stressors, like searching for prey, foraging for food or merely surviving the winter, human interference, like habitat encroachment, has been shown to cause long-term stress in bears.
With more than $65,000 in funding from Morris Animal Foundation, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan have developed and validated a noninvasive technique to measure a primary stress hormone, cortisol, in hair collected from grizzly bears and polar bears.
Led by Dr. David Janz, a professor in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, and his Ph.D. student Bryan Macbeth (WCVM Class of 2007), the research team evaluated hair cortisol levels of grizzlies from the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, where they are listed as threatened. The team also analyzed hair samples of polar bears from the Hudson Bay region – the southernmost extent of their current range in the world.
Their study confirmed that hair cortisol testing is a sensitive and reliable measure of long-term stress in wildlife. And the test will likely help other species, too.
Because the assay can be utilized for any mammal with hair, including other free-ranging wildlife, domestic species and zoo animals, it can be used by conservation managers and veterinarians as a means to rapidly assess the stress level of animals.
The researchers were also able to identify many important methodological considerations that will improve testing and allow for more accurate outcomes, thus providing valuable information for other researchers interested in using the technique.
"We believe that our careful attention to details associated with ensuring accuracy and precision of hair cortisol measurement will be recognized by other researchers using or planning on using this technique," says Janz.
The team is collaborating with researchers studying other populations of grizzly/brown bears in Canada, Scandinavia and Mongolia as well as other populations of polar bears in northern Canada and Alaska.
"Traditional wildlife biology approaches to measure population health can take years. Our test takes a few hours and may provide 'early warning' of health problems in individual bears before they cause population health problems," says Janz.
The test is proving valuable for assessing the stress levels of domestic animals as well. In an ongoing study led by Dr. Fernando Marqués of the WCVM, researchers are working with Janz to adapt the hair cortisol measurement technique for use with horses. Their goal: to determine the relationship between hair cortisol levels and gastric ulcers, a particular concern with thoroughbred racehorses.
"We are also collaborating with researchers studying ringed seals in Hudson Bay, harbor seals in Alaska, northern elephant seals breeding in California, caribou and reindeer from Alaska, mule deer from Saskatchewan, moose from Norway, and African elephants from Zimbabwe," says Janz.
"The funding from Morris Animal Foundation helped with us receiving international recognition of our work, which led to these collaborations."
Article reposted and updated with permission from Morris Animal Foundation
Human activities can negatively affect wildlife populations and, in some cases, may result in long-term stress and health problems in individual animals.
Bears appear to be particularly affected. Aside from the normal stressors, like searching for prey, foraging for food or merely surviving the winter, human interference, like habitat encroachment, has been shown to cause long-term stress in bears.
With more than $65,000 in funding from Morris Animal Foundation, researchers from the University of Saskatchewan have developed and validated a noninvasive technique to measure a primary stress hormone, cortisol, in hair collected from grizzly bears and polar bears.
Led by Dr. David Janz, a professor in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, and his Ph.D. student Bryan Macbeth (WCVM Class of 2007), the research team evaluated hair cortisol levels of grizzlies from the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, where they are listed as threatened. The team also analyzed hair samples of polar bears from the Hudson Bay region – the southernmost extent of their current range in the world.
Their study confirmed that hair cortisol testing is a sensitive and reliable measure of long-term stress in wildlife. And the test will likely help other species, too.
Because the assay can be utilized for any mammal with hair, including other free-ranging wildlife, domestic species and zoo animals, it can be used by conservation managers and veterinarians as a means to rapidly assess the stress level of animals.
The researchers were also able to identify many important methodological considerations that will improve testing and allow for more accurate outcomes, thus providing valuable information for other researchers interested in using the technique.
"We believe that our careful attention to details associated with ensuring accuracy and precision of hair cortisol measurement will be recognized by other researchers using or planning on using this technique," says Janz.
The team is collaborating with researchers studying other populations of grizzly/brown bears in Canada, Scandinavia and Mongolia as well as other populations of polar bears in northern Canada and Alaska.
"Traditional wildlife biology approaches to measure population health can take years. Our test takes a few hours and may provide 'early warning' of health problems in individual bears before they cause population health problems," says Janz.
The test is proving valuable for assessing the stress levels of domestic animals as well. In an ongoing study led by Dr. Fernando Marqués of the WCVM, researchers are working with Janz to adapt the hair cortisol measurement technique for use with horses. Their goal: to determine the relationship between hair cortisol levels and gastric ulcers, a particular concern with thoroughbred racehorses.
"We are also collaborating with researchers studying ringed seals in Hudson Bay, harbor seals in Alaska, northern elephant seals breeding in California, caribou and reindeer from Alaska, mule deer from Saskatchewan, moose from Norway, and African elephants from Zimbabwe," says Janz.
"The funding from Morris Animal Foundation helped with us receiving international recognition of our work, which led to these collaborations."
Article reposted and updated with permission from Morris Animal Foundation
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