Natural Variation in Stress Hormones, Comparisons Across Matrices, and Impacts Resulting from Induced Stress in the Bottlenose Dolphin

Dorian S Houser; Cory D Champagne; Daniel E Crocker; Nicholas M Kellar; John Cockrem; Tracy Romano; Rebecca K Booth; Samuel K Wasser

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_56

Natural Variation in Stress Hormones, Comparisons Across Matrices, and Impacts Resulting from Induced Stress in the Bottlenose Dolphin

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016:875:467-71. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_56.

Authors

Dorian S Houser¹, Cory D Champagne², Daniel E Crocker³, Nicholas M Kellar⁴, John Cockrem⁵, Tracy Romano⁶, Rebecca K Booth⁷, Samuel K Wasser⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Conservation and Biological Research, National Marine Mammal Foundation, 2240 Shelter Island Drive, Suite 200, San Diego, CA, 92106, USA. dorian.houser@nmmf.org.
² Department of Conservation and Biological Research, National Marine Mammal Foundation, 2240 Shelter Island Drive, Suite 200, San Diego, CA, 92106, USA. cory.champagne@nmmf.org.
³ Biology Department, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, 94928, USA. crocker@sonoma.edu.
⁴ Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, San Diego, CA, 92037, USA. nick.kellar@noaa.gov.
⁵ Department of Zoology, Massey University, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand. j.f.cockrem@massey.ac.nz.
⁶ Research and Zoological Operations, Mystic Aquarium, Mystic, CT, 06355, USA. tromano@searesearch.org.
⁷ Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA. rkn5@u.washington.edu.
⁸ Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA. wassers@u.washington.edu.

PMID: 26610993
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_56

Abstract

Knowledge regarding stress hormones and how they vary in response to seasonality, gender, age, and reproductive status for any marine mammal is limited. Furthermore, stress hormones may be measured in more than one matrix (e.g., feces, blood, blubber), but the relationships between levels of a given hormone across these matrices are unknown, further complicating the interpretations of hormones measured in samples collected from wild animals. A study is underway to address these issues in a population of bottlenose dolphins trained for voluntary participation in sample collections from different matrices and across season and time of day.

Keywords: Aldosterone; Catecholamines; Cortisol; Thyroid hormones.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Bottle-Nosed Dolphin / blood*
Environment*
Female
Hormones / blood*
Male
Stress, Physiological*

Substances

Hormones