The conservation physiology toolbox: status and opportunities.

Christine L Madliger,Steven J Cooke,Kevin R Hultine,Oliver P Love,Craig Franklin

doi:10.1093/conphys/coy029

Christine L Madliger, Steven J Cooke + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coy029

Copy DOI

Abstract

For over a century, physiological tools and techniques have been allowing researchers to characterize how organisms respond to changes in their natural environment and how they interact with human activities or infrastructure. Over time, many of these techniques have become part of the conservation physiology toolbox, which is used to monitor, predict, conserve, and restore plant and animal populations under threat. Here, we provide a summary of the tools that currently comprise the conservation physiology toolbox. By assessing patterns in articles that have been published in ‘Conservation Physiology’ over the past 5 years that focus on introducing, refining and validating tools, we provide an overview of where researchers are placing emphasis in terms of taxa and physiological sub-disciplines. Although there is certainly diversity across the toolbox, metrics of stress physiology (particularly glucocorticoids) and studies focusing on mammals have garnered the greatest attention, with both comprising the majority of publications (>45%). We also summarize the types of validations that are actively being completed, including those related to logistics (sample collection, storage and processing), interpretation of variation in physiological traits and relevance for conservation science. Finally, we provide recommendations for future tool refinement, with suggestions for: (i) improving our understanding of the applicability of glucocorticoid physiology; (ii) linking multiple physiological and non-physiological tools; (iii) establishing a framework for plant conservation physiology; (iv) assessing links between environmental disturbance, physiology and fitness; (v) appreciating opportunities for validations in under-represented taxa; and (vi) emphasizing tool validation as a core component of research programmes. Overall, we are confident that conservation physiology will continue to increase its applicability to more taxa, develop more non-invasive techniques, delineate where limitations exist, and identify the contexts necessary for interpretation in captivity and the wild.

Highlights

Conservation physiology aims to apply an array of physiological concepts, tools and techniques to characterize biodiversity and predict multi-scale responses to environmental change
We identified validation-focused articles that were not published under the Tool Box heading by searching the journal’s archives using the search string, and checking each result to confirm it contained a validation, refinement or introduction of a novel methodology
Ellenberg et al (2013) assessed whether heart rate could provide a measure of disturbance caused by human presence in yellow-eyed penguins (Megadyptes antipodes). They found that the birds assessed the level of disturbance differently than they had predicted, indicating that this type of physiological measure could provide an objective and unprecedented assessment of disturbance in this species. Another important validation for any tool proposed as a potential biomarker of disturbance is to link variation in the physiological trait to population-level processes, allowing researchers to predict how populations could change based on measurements from individuals (Cooke and O’Connor, 2010)

Summary

Introduction

Conservation physiology aims to apply an array of physiological concepts, tools and techniques to characterize biodiversity and predict multi-scale responses to environmental change. Another important validation for any tool proposed as a potential biomarker of disturbance is to link variation in the physiological trait to population-level processes, allowing researchers to predict how populations could change based on measurements from individuals (Cooke and O’Connor, 2010).

Results

Conclusion