Adrenocortical stress responses influence an invasive vertebrate's fitness in an extreme environment Jessop, Tim S., Letnic, Mike, Webb, Jonathan K. and Dempster, Tim 2013, Adrenocortical stress responses influence an invasive vertebrate's fitness in an extreme environment, Proceedings of the Royal Society B : biological sciences, vol. 280, pp. 1-9, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2013.1444. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Adrenocortical stress responses influence an invasive vertebrate's fitness in an extreme environment Author(s) Jessop, Tim S. orcid.org/0000-0002-7712-4373 Letnic, Mike Webb, Jonathan K. Dempster, Tim Journal name Proceedings of the Royal Society B : biological sciences Volume number 280 Start page 1 End page 9 Total pages 9 Publisher Royal Society Publishing Place of publication London, Eng. Publication date 2013 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 Keyword(s) extreme environments survival glucocorticoid hormones acute stress response adaptive phenotypic performance fitness Summary Continued range expansion into physiologically challenging environments requires invasive species to maintain adaptive phenotypic performance. The adrenocortical stress response, governed in part by glucocorticoid hormones, influences physiological and behavioural responses of vertebrates to environmental stressors. However, any adaptive role of this response in invasive populations that are expanding into extreme environments is currently unclear. We experimentally manipulated the adrenocortical stress response of invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) to investigate its effect on phenotypic performance and fitness at the species' range front in the Tanami Desert, Australia. Here, toads are vulnerable to overheating and dehydration during the annual hot-dry season and display elevated plasma corticosterone levels indicative of severe environmental stress. By comparing unmanipulated control toads with toads whose adrenocortical stress response was manipulated to increase acute physiological stress responsiveness, we found that control toads had significantly reduced daily evaporative water loss and higher survival relative to the experimental animals. The adrenocortical stress response hence appears essential in facilitating complex phenotypic performance and setting fitness trajectories of individuals from invasive species during range expansion. Language eng DOI 10.1098/rspb.2013.1444 Field of Research 050103 Invasive Species Ecology 060603 Animal Physiology - Systems 060801 Animal Behaviour 06 Biological Sciences 11 Medical And Health Sciences 07 Agricultural And Veterinary Sciences Socio Economic Objective 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2013, Royal Society Publishing Free to Read? Yes Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30081787 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Life and Environmental Sciences Open Access Collection Centre for Integrative Ecology Related Links Link Description Link to full-text (open access)   Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 29 Feb 2016, 11:58:16 EST Tue, 01 Mar 2016, 04:01:20 EST Tue, 01 Mar 2016, 05:09:09 EST Tue, 01 Mar 2016, 11:57:43 EST Tue, 01 Mar 2016, 12:00:32 EST Thu, 03 Mar 2016, 10:50:17 EST Fri, 04 Mar 2016, 08:44:27 EST Sat, 25 Nov 2017, 01:31:32 EST Sun, 10 Nov 2019, 22:35:10 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 36 times in TR Web of Science Cited 37 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 442 Abstract Views, 5 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 29 Feb 2016, 11:58:16 EST

Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.