Meeting Abstract

9.1  Sunday, Jan. 4  A ‘Good’ Stress Response? Searching for relationships between the acute glucocorticoid response and fitness BREUNER, CW*; PATTERSON, SH; HAHN, TP; The University of Montana; The University of Montana; University of California at Davis creagh.breuner@umontana.edu

The assumption that the acute response to stress is adaptive is pervasive in the literature, but there is little direct evidence regarding potential positive fitness consequences of an acute stress response. If robust acute glucocorticoid (GC) elevation increases lifetime reproductive success (fitness), in what contexts does this occur, and through what combination of effects on annual reproductive output and interannual survival? Here we present an analysis of studies examining acute GC reactivity and direct measures of fitness, as well as those comparing GCs to less direct measures of intermediate performance.