Meeting Abstract
A primary mechanism thought to enable vertebrate colonization of the nascent niches created in the wake of urbanization, is modification of a species’ hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis. Understanding the ecology and physiology of synanthropic relationships is critical from both an environmental and human health perspective, as they are consequential for invasive species range expansion, and zoonotic, as well as sylvatic, pathogen transmission. We investigate the ecophysiological changes associated with urban environments using a using a combination of field, laboratory, and citizen science monitoring techniques, in an urban adapted mammalian model, the eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Not only are eastern grey squirrels a major conservation concern as invasive species, and relevant from a disease perspective, but their ubiquity and visibility make them ideal candidates for novel citizen science initiatives. Particularly interesting however, is the existence of pelage colour polymorphs within grey squirrel populations which show evidence for 1) being adaptive on urban landscapes, and 2) physiological pleiotropy. In our urban-exurban investigations, we pair multi-temporal measures of HPA axis activity, immune function, and microbiome profiling with population level estimates of density and demography to characterize urban-exurban patterns in eastern grey squirrel physiology, and lay the foundation for future manipulative investigations.
