| Titre : | Corticosterone responses to capture and restraint in Australasian Gannets, Morus serrator, at Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand (2016) |
| Auteurs : | John F. Cockrem, Auteur ; E. Jane Candy, Auteur ; Murray A. Potter, Auteur ; Gabriel E. Machovsky-Capuska, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Emu - Austral Ornithologie (116(1) 2016) |
| Article en page(s) : | 86-90 |
| Mots-clés: | Climate change ; New Zealand birds ; seabirds ; stress. |
| Résumé : | Birds can respond to threats or potential threats in their immediate environment with increased secretion of the glucocorticoid hormone corticosterone. The size of a corticosterone response to capture reflects the sensitivity of a bird to stimuli from its immediate environment, and there is marked variation between individual birds in their corticosterone responses. Whilst corticosterone responses to capture have been described in many species of birds, there are few reports of corticosterone responses in Australasian seabirds, and the aim of the present study was to describe individual and mean corticosterone responses to capture and restraint in Australasian Gannets (Morus serrator) at Cape Kidnappers, New Zealand. Corticosterone concentrations were low initially, then increased after capture in all gannets, with mean concentrations 55.77 ± 4.72 ng mL–1 after 30 min of restraint. This is the first report of corticosterone responses in gannets. Mean corticosterone concentrations at 30 min were within the range of responses reported for the blue-footed booby, another species within the family Sulidae, suggesting that different species of Sulidae have similar sensitivities to their immediate environment. Further studies of corticosterone in gannets and other Australasian seabirds will be worthwhile to provide information about how these seabirds can respond to changes in their environment. |
| En ligne : | http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU15012 |



