Meeting Abstract

S3.1  Sunday, Jan. 4  Hormones as mediators of animal performance HUSAK, J. F.*; IRSCHICK, D. J.; Virginia Tech; U Mass at Amherst husak@vt.edu

While recent studies have begun to address how hormones mediate whole-animal performance traits, the field conspicuously lags behind research conducted on humans. We define whole-animal performance to place it into an ecologically relevant context for non-human animals and explain its evolutionary significance. We also discuss how the pleiotropic nature of hormone actions can create tradeoffs among performance traits, ultimately affecting evolutionary trajectories. We then review studies of hormonal regulation of human performance, emphasizing major findings that will help direct future research efforts on non-human animals. Specifically, we discuss hormonal effects on human muscle physiology as well as the effect of training on hormone-performance relationships in experimental studies.