Meeting Abstract
The loss of habitat to urbanization is detrimental to many species, but not all. There are some that are able to survive, and in many cases thrive, in urban environments. To help us understand how some species are able to survive, and perhaps thrive, in urban environments, it is helpful to examine species that live in both urban and rural environments with the underlying assumption that most species did not evolve in conjunction with the habitation of humans. In the Inland Northwest (eastern Washington and Oregon and Northern Idaho), yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) are found not only in rural scrublands, but also in urban, highly developed areas, such as downtown Spokane, WA. Because of its ability to live along an urban-rural gradient, this species makes an exemplary organism for the examination of acclimation to urban environments. Allostatic load is predicted to differ between urban and rural environments based upon an individual’s interpretation of the environment. Glucocorticoids are a useful measure of allostatic load because their levels fluctuate in response to varying energetic demands. Therefore, we measured glucocorticoid metabolite levels in feces of marmots living along an urban-rural gradient. Based upon the hypothesis that energetic demands and availability may vary between urban and rural locales, we predict that baseline levels of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites will also vary. Here we present first the results of a de novo construction of an urban-rural metric, and, second, levels of glucocorticoid metabolites of marmots residing along an urban-rural continuum in the Spokane area.
