Meeting Abstract
Glucocorticoid hormones form an important part of the vertebrate response to stressful situations, affecting to some degree almost every tissue in the body. Their effects manifest both physiologically and behaviorally, with many animals displaying elevated motility or other evasive behaviors in concert with elevated hormone levels. Much of the research on this topic, however, has been performed in mammals and birds. Ectotherms present a more complicated picture, as their flexible body temperatures have been shown to cause changes in glucocorticoid secretion rates and modifications to behavioral responses. It is therefore critical to evaluate how the physiological response of an ectothermic species of interest varies under different temperatures, and how this correlates with behavior. Therefore, as part of a larger field study, turtles were captured and their blood was assayed for glucococorticoid levels, along with measurement of associated body temperatures. Timing of various escape behaviors following release onto the shore at their capture site was recorded for the animals. We present the initial results from our first season of investigation of these inter-linked phenomena.
