Stress, Well-Being, and Reproduction in Wildlife.

Area of Science:

• Wildlife conservation biology
• Animal welfare science
• Reproductive physiology

Background:

• Global wildlife populations are declining, necessitating a shift from mere survival to thriving conditions.
• In situ conservation must address environmental and anthropogenic stressors impacting wildlife reproduction and survival.
• Stress and welfare are complex, with species-specific responses influencing individual and population-level outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the multifaceted role of stress, including glucocorticoids (GCs), in disrupting or facilitating wildlife reproduction.
• To highlight the limitations of current stress assessment methods, such as GC analysis, in verifying welfare status.
• To advocate for comprehensive indicators beyond GCs to assess both negative and positive welfare states in wildlife.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on stress physiology and wildlife reproduction.
• Discussion of glucocorticoids (GCs) as traditional stress indicators.
• Exploration of novel physiological biomarkers and behavioral indicators for welfare assessment.

Main Results:

• Stress responses can significantly disrupt wildlife reproduction and fitness.
• Glucocorticoids (GCs) play a key role, but their analysis alone is insufficient for comprehensive welfare assessment.
• Multi-biomarker approaches integrating physiological and behavioral data offer a more robust evaluation of wildlife well-being.

Conclusions:

• Effective wildlife conservation requires assessing conditions that enable animals to thrive, not just survive.
• Advanced welfare assessment in wildlife necessitates moving beyond single indicators like GCs to multi-biomarker strategies.
• Integrating diverse physiological and behavioral data can elucidate the complex stress-reproduction relationship, enhancing conservation efforts.